Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

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The Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest pair of buildings in the world from 1994 until 2003. They are also the tallest buildings by the end of the 20th century, each standing at 451.9 meters tall. However, since then, it is now the third tallest skyscrapers behind Burj Dubai and Taipei 101. It was surpassed by Taipei 101 on 17 October, 2003.

The Petronas Twin Towers were designed by Argentine architect César Pelli, who also designed New York's World Financial Center and London's Canary Wharf. The towers are 88 storeys high, and constructed of reinforced concrete holding a steel and glass façade with motifs derived from Islamic art. The land on which they stand was the former Selangor Turf Club. Due to the dept of the bedrock where the buildings were located, the Twin Towers were built on the world's deepest foundation going down 120 meters.

Two different construction companies were hired to build each tower, and they competed to complete the towers. Eventually the builders of Tower 2, Samsung Constructions, won the race, although they started construction a month behind Tower 1, built by Hazama Corporation, and even though Tower 2 ran into problems when the structure was found to be 25 millimeters off from vertical.

I photographed the Twin Towers after nightfall, when the lights of the city lit up the low-hanging clouds. I used a long shutter speed of several seconds to get this bright lighting.

The Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur.

Due to a lack of steel and the huge cost of importing steel to Malaysia, the Petronas Twin Towers were constructed using the cheaper super high strength reinforced concrete. The result of using high-strength concrete is that the tower were better able to withstand sway. The concrete cores were 23 meters by 23 meters. The support provided by the core and the outer super columns allows the tower to stand tall and yet provide 1300 to 2000 sq meters of column-free space on each floor.

When completed in 1998, the Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world. The exterior is clad with 33,000 piece of stainless steel and 55,000 laminated glass panels. Each tower is served by 29 double decker high speed lifts, 6 heavy duty service lifts and 4 executive lifts.

A double-decked skybridge links the two towers on the 41st and 42nd levels, 170 metres above street level. Spanning 58.4 metres, the bridge weighs 750 tonnes and was fabricated in Korea by Samsung. 800 visitors are allowed to tour the skybridge every day, free of charge. Visitation tickets are given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, an upmarket shopping mall, and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.