PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS

PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS

 The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 until surpassed by Taipei 101, but remain the tallest twin buildings in the world. The towers feature a skybridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-story bridge in the world. It is not attached to the main structure, but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking, as the towers sway several feet in towards and away from each other during high winds. The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim religion.Another Islamic influence on the design is that the cross section of the towers is based on a Rub el Hizb, albeit with circular sectors added to meet office space requirements. 

 Design

The PETRONAS Twin Towers symbolises our culture and advancement on the world stage. This is shown by a blend of local art and cutting-edge innovation. The interior motifs are a reflection of local handicrafts and weaving patterns, while stainless steel and glass combine beautifully as Islamic patterns.
The design of each Tower's floor plate is based on simple Islamic geometric forms of two interlocking squares, creating a shape of eight-pointed stars. Architecturally, these forms describe important Islamic principles of "unity within unity, harmony, stability and rationality".
The towers are 'intelligent' structures, built with a system that seamlessly coordinates telecommunications, environment control, power supply, lighting, fire and smoke control, and building security.

 Pinnacles

These structures house the aircraft warning lights and external maintenance building equipment.
Each pinnacle features a spire with 23 segments, and a ring ball comprised of 14 rings of varying diameters.

Exterior

Each Tower is set back five times in its ascent to maintain the vertical axis and tapering of the design. The walls of the uppermost floors are also sloped inward to taper and meet the pinnacle.
The Towers feature multi-faceted walls of 33,000 stainless steel and 55,000 glass panels. Vision Glass, specialised panels with light filtering and noise reduction properties, provide a comfortable inner environment. The glass is covered by stainless steel visors to further protect visitors from the tropical sun.

Interior

Designs and patterns of the entrance halls' foyer reflect traditional handicrafts and 'songket', or weaving. In addition, the wall panels and screens are also inspired by hardwood carvings from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The floor designs are based on intricate patterns of pandan weaving and bertam palm wall matting.

 Lifts

The Towers house 29 double-decker high-speed passenger lifts, six heavy-duty service lifts and four executive lifts. The floors are based on a zoning arrangement: two sets of 6 double-decker lifts serve levels 1 to 23 and levels 1 to 37, while another set of the five double-decker lifts take passengers directly to the Sky Lobby. Here, passengers take another lift to the upper zones.
The executive lifts are the longest rise in any office building in Malaysia. It serves every floor from the basement car park to the top of the Towers in 90 seconds.
Each passenger deck can carry 26 people or 52 in total, while the executive lifts can carry an average of 10. Its speed is between 3.5m/s and 6.0 m/s, depending on the zones they are servicing.

 Facts

 Number of storeys                                     :  88
Height of each towers                                :  452m above street level
Length of Skybridge                                  :  58.4m
Height of Skybridge (Level 41)                : 170m
from street level
Height of each Pinnacle                            :      73.5m
Lifts                                   :      29 double-decker high-speed passenger lifts in each tower
Escalators                                     :     10 in each tower
Stairs                                                       :  1765 flights
Car park                                            :     5,400 parking bays on 5 levels of basement parking
Foundation                                :  4.5m thick raft foundation containing 13,200cu. m.
                                                          of reinforced concrete, weighing approximately 32,550t
                                                         under each tower, supported by 104 barette piles varying
                                                                      from 60 to 115m in length
Total built-up area                                     :     395,000sq. m.
Amount of Stainless Steel cladding      :     83,500sq. m.
Amount of Vision Glass                   :     77,000sq. m.
Amount of Concrete                   :     160,000cu. m.
Amount of Foundation Concrete           :     13,200sq. m.
Steel used                                    :     36,910t
Weight per tower                                    :     300,000t
Usable space                                    :     213,750sq. m. per tower
Two annexes                                    :     186,000 sq metres of space