"Reaching New Heights"

   Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers were officially proclaimed the tallest buildings in the world by the the members of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat on April 12, 1996. The colossal towers are located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Architects

Cesar Pelli, one of the firm's principals, became dean of architecture at Yale University, Connecticut, in 1977. Other designs of Pelli's include the World Financial Center in New York City.

"Very tall buildings enter into a realm that many cultures consider sacred. In my native Spanish, 'sky' and 'heaven' are the same word."

Cesar Pelli (left)

   Firm's other principal: Fred Clarke.
   Project Manager:  Larry Ng.
   Design team leader:  Jon Pickard,

Statistics

• 450 meters(1,476 ft) tall
• 88 stories
• Construction began:May 1993.
• 246 foot spires
• 54.8 meter(160 ft) sky bridge connecting towers at 41st and 42nd stories (170 feet above the ground)

  Construction and Materials

  

• Walls of glass and duronic aluminum
• Concrete footings and floors
• Bridge of glass backed by steel

  Fun Facts

• Took 3 days to hoist the skybridge into place.
• Built 164 ft. away from their original site due to discovery of underground limestone that would have made the towers unstable
• Two model towers were able to withstand winds up to 65 mph during a wind-tunnel test.
• Portion of the recent movie Entrapment filmed in and around the towers

  Function

• Built to fulfill request from Petronas, a Malaysian government gas and oil company for 4.5 million square feet of office space
• 1.5 million feet of commercial space
• Concert Hall, Art Gallery, parking lot and Petroleum Discovery Center