The Petronas Towers (also known as the Petronas Twin Towers or KLCC) are skyscrapers and twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They 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 building is the landmark of Kuala Lumpur with nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower.Other buildings have used spires to increase their height but have always been taller overall to the pinnacle when trying to claim the title. In the aftermath of the controversy, the rules governing official titles were partially overhauled, and a number of buildings re-classified structural antenna as architectural details to boost their height rating even though nothing was actually done to the building.
History
Designed by Argentine architects César Pelli and Djay Cerico under the consultancy of Julius Gold and Filipino engineer Domingo Basa, the Petronas Towers were completed in 1998 after a seven year build and became the tallest buildings in the world on the date of completion.They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's race track. Because of the depth of the bedrock, the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundations.The 120-meter foundations were built within 12 months by Bachy Soletanche and required massive amounts of concrete.Its engineering designs on structural framework were contributed by Haitian engineer Domo Obiasse and colleagues Aris Battista and Princess D Battista.
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.Tower 1 was built by a Japanese consortium led by the Hazama Corporation while Tower 2 was built by Samsung C&T and Kukdong Engineering & Construction, both South Korean contractors. The sky bridge contract was completed by Kukdong Engineering & Construction. Although the Japanese company started construction earlier, the South Korean companies were able to complete construction ahead of the Japanese company's schedule. Thus, Tower 2 became the first to reach the world's tallest building at the time.
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.Tower 1 was built by a Japanese consortium led by the Hazama Corporation while Tower 2 was built by Samsung C&T and Kukdong Engineering & Construction, both South Korean contractors. The sky bridge contract was completed by Kukdong Engineering & Construction. Although the Japanese company started construction earlier, the South Korean companies were able to complete construction ahead of the Japanese company's schedule. Thus, Tower 2 became the first to reach the world's tallest building at the time.Due to a lack of steel and the huge cost of importing steel, the towers were constructed on a cheaper radical design of super high-strength reinforced concrete. High-strength concrete is a material familiar to Asian contractors and twice as effective as steel in sway reduction; however, it makes the building twice as heavy on its foundation than a comparable steel building. Supported by 23-by-23 metre concrete cores and an outer ring of widely spaced super columns, the towers use a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides 560,000 square metres of column-free office space.Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of theMalaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Skybridge
The towers feature a skybridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-storey 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 during high winds.The bridge is 170 m (558 ft) above the ground and 58 m (190 ft) long, weighing 750 tons.The same floor is also known as the podium, since visitors desiring to go to higher levels have to change elevators here. The skybridge is open to all visitors, but tickets are limited to 1700 people per day, and must be obtained for free on a first-come, first-served basis.Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor as the 42nd floor can only be used by the tenants of the building.
The skybridge also acts as a safety device, so that in the event of a fire or other emergency in one tower, tenants can evacuate by crossing the skybridge to the other tower.The total evacuation triggered by a bomb hoax on September 12, 2001 (the day after the September 11 attacks destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City) showed that the bridge would not be useful if both towers need to be emptied simultaneously, as the capacity of the staircases was insufficient for such an event.Plans thus call for the lifts to be used if both towers need to be evacuated, and a successful drill following the revised plan was conducted in 2005.
Lift system
The main bank of Otis Lifts is located in the centre of each tower. All main lifts are double-decker with the lower deck of the lift taking passengers to odd numbered floors and upper deck to even numbered floors. To reach an even-numbered floor from ground level, passengers must take an escalator to the upper deck of the lift.
From the ground floor, there are three groups of lifts. The "short haul" group of 6 lifts take passengers to floors between level 2/3 and level 16/17. The "mid haul" group of six lifts take passengers to floors between level 18/19 and level 37/38. There is also a set of shuttle lifts that take passengers directly to levels 41/42. To get to levels above 41/42, passengers must take the shuttle lifts, then change to lifts to the upper floors. These connecting lifts are directly above the lifts that serve levels 2 to 38. The pattern now repeats with the upper levels, one set serving levels 43/44 to 57/58 and one set serving levels 59/60 to levels 73/74.
Apart from this main bank of lifts, there are a series of "connecting" lifts to take people between the groups. Unlike the main lifts, these are not the double-decker type. Two lifts are provided to take people from levels 37/38 to levels 41/42 (levels 39 and 40 are not accessible as office space). This spares someone in the lower half of the building from having to go back to the ground floor to go to the upper half of the building.
The lifts contain a number of safety features. It is possible to evacuate people from a lift stuck between floors by manually driving one of the adjacent lifts next to it and opening a panel in the wall. It is then possible for people in the stuck lift to walk between lift cars.During an evacuation of the buildings, only the shuttle lift is allowed to be used, as there are only doors at levels G/1 and levels 41/42; therefore should there be a fire in the lower half of the building, this enclosed shaft would remain unaffected. Firefighter lifts are also provided in case of emergency.
Service building
The service building is to the east of the Petronas Towers and contains the services required to keep the building operational, such as dissipating the heat from the air-conditioning system for all 88 levels in both towers.
Suria KLCC is Malaysia's premier shopping centre located at the base of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It is located on 6 floors, with anchor tenants Isetan, Parkson Grand, Cold Storage Supermarket, Tanjong Golden Village, Signature's Level 2 Food Court andMarks and Spencer. Suria is the native Malay word for Sunshine. It was opened on 1998.
It houses mostly luxury and fashionable shops such as Aigner, Louis Vuitton, Moschino, Prada,Brioni, Marc Jacobs, Hermes, Salvatore Ferragamo, Frank Muller, Bally, Coach, Hugo Boss,Karen Millen, Paul Smith, Fendi, Piaget, Miu Miu, Calvin Klein, Stuart Weitzman, Gucci,Chopard, Versace, Emilio Pucci, Burberry, Chanel, Tod's, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani,Ermenegildo Zegna, Rolex, Alfred Dunhill, DKNY, Jimmy Choo as well as cafes, restaurants, a 12 screen cinema, a concert hall, an art gallery, and a Science Discovery Centre, over 6 floors. It is nestled below the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world. It is one of Malaysia's most popular tourist destinations.
Attractions of Suria KLCC
Petrosains Discovery Centre
Petrosains is located on the 4th floor of Suria KLCC. Petrosains is designed as a modern interactive Science Discovery Centre that presents a story of science and technology of the petroleum industry in a fun way. The concept and content not only revolve specifically around petroleum science, but also embrace all other aspects of general sciences.
Aquaria
An underwater aquarium which features a cornucopia of crustaceans and unique fisheries, similar to its counterparts in Ocean Park, Hong Kong and Singapore's Sentosa Island. The adventure comprises of Malaysian terrains which covers the mountainous range to the coastal areas and marine ecosystem. It explains the inherent diversity and different habitat of different wildlife present in the world. Visitors are transported via a conveyor belt through underwater tunnels to witness the beauty of the ocean bottom.
Dewan Filharmonik Petronas
Dewan Filharmonik is a concert hall in Suria KLCC. It is the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The ceiling of the hall is of acoustically transparent material. On top of this visible ceiling exists an adjustable ceiling which is acoustically reflective. This means the hall itself can be "tuned" prior to a performance, making it the biggest instrument in anyorchestra holding a concert within it. The second largest instrument in the hall is a Klais pipe organ which features 4,740 pipes.
Galeri Petronas
An art gallery established in 1993 by Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil company, to support the development and preservationof arts in the country. It serves as an venue for fine arts exhibition for both international and local artists. Admission is free of charge.
Anchors of Suria KLCC
Isetan
The Japanese departmental store company Isetan has a branch in Suria KLCC. It is one of the anchor tenants of Suria KLCC, taking up a vertical space of five floors equal to the height of Suria. The department store is frequented by Japanese, Korean, Singaporean tourists as well as local shoppers for the assorted types of goods and brands. Luxury goods and designer wear labels such as Dior, Celine, DKNY, Calvin Klein and Polo Ralph Lauren has store-in-store flagships within Isetan.
Parkson
Parkson is a locally incorporated multinational retailer. It features mainly middle to high-end collections, by both foreign and renowned-local fashion designers. Sisley, United Colours of Benetton, Timberland and Pierre Cardin are among the brands retailed. It sells a range of European-made handbag collections.
Kinokuniya
The Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya has a large branch in Suria KLCC. It occupies two floors and faces the pool outside Suria KLCC. It incorporates the usual functions of a book store and also features a cafe. It sells books mainly in English, Chinese and also some Malay ones, reflective of Malaysia's multicultural diversity.
Cold Storage Supermarket
Residing on Park Mall (Concourse) level. It serves as a quality supermarket selling foreign-imported daily staples and provisions. It has dedicated sections for wine and cold meat.
A map of KLCC:
For more info, log on to http://www.suriaklcc.com.my
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