Petronas Twin Towers Tourism
The Petronas Towers or Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are a pair of twin towers that were the tallest buildings in the world in 1998-2004, before being surpassed by the Burj Khalifa and Taipei 101. However, these two towers are still the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world as of 20th century. The Petronas Twin Towers held the title as the tallest building from 1998 to 2004 based on measurements from the main entrance floor to the superstructure, according to the building's original height reference used by the international organization Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat since 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced when the tower was nearly completed in 1996).
Comparison with other towers
The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world—before the completion of Taipei 101 in 2004—as measured up to the top of its structural components (the top, not the antenna). The spire is considered an important part of the building's architecture, and if it is changed it will greatly change the shape and architecture of the building, while the antenna can be installed or removed without affecting the shape of the building. The Petronas Twin Towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world.
The Willis Tower (formerly Spears) and the World Trade Center consist of 110 habitable floors, so that is 22 floors more than the Petronas Twin Towers which total 88 floors. The roofs and highest floors of the Willis Tower and the World Trade Center somewhat exceed the height of the roofs and highest floors of the Petronas Twin Towers. The tallest antenna on the Willis Tower is 75 meters (246 ft) higher than the tops of the Petronas Twin Towers. However, according to CTBUH regulations and guidelines, the Willis Tower's antennas are not considered part of its architectural features. On the other hand, the tops of the Petronas Towers are included in the height measurement because they are not antenna poles. Therefore, the Petronas Twin Towers exceed the official height of the Willis Tower by 10 meters (33 ft), even though the Willis Tower has more floors.
Development
The Petronas Towers, designed by architect César Pelli from Argentina, were completed in 1998. After seven years, this tower became the tallest building in the world when it was inaugurated. The tower was built on the foundations of the Kuala Lumpur horse race. The depth of the bedrock makes this building built with the deepest foundations in the world. The 120 meter deep foundation required a large amount of concrete to be built within 12 months (1 year) by Bachy Soletanche.
The 88-story tower is built mostly of reinforced concrete with a steel and glass exterior designed to resemble Islamic art motifs that reflect the Islamic religion in Malaysia. Another influence of Islamic art in this building is the cross-section of the two towers in the shape of Rub al-Hizb, plus a round section to meet the needs of office space. Tower 1 was built by a Japanese consortium led by Hazama Corporation while Tower 2 was built by two South Korean contractors, namely Samsung C&T and Kukdong Engineering & Construction. The bridge was also built by Kukdong.
Due to the steel shortage and the high cost of importing steel, the twin towers were built with very strong reinforced concrete in a radical design that was cheaper. Very strong concrete is known to many Asian contractors and is twice as effective at reducing shocks as steel, but the building is twice as heavy on the foundation as similar steel buildings. Supported by a 23 Under these twin towers there is the Suria KLCC shopping center and the Petronas Philharmonic Hall.
Tenant
Tower One is occupied entirely by Petronas and a number of subsidiaries and associated companies, while the offices in Tower Two are also rented out to other companies. Companies with offices in Tower Two include: Al Jazeera, Hess Corporation, Bloomberg, GE, IBM, Khazanah Nasional, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Reuters, Shell. Petronas Twin Towers Tourism
KLCC Park
Under this building, there is a 17-acre (69,000 m2) KLCC Park which provides jogging and recreation paths, a fountain pool decorated with light shows, a wading pool and a children's play area. Suria KLCC is one of the largest shopping centers in Malaysia.
Air bridge
There is an air bridge connecting the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floors, making it the highest two-story bridge in the world. The bridge is not attached directly to the main structure, instead it is designed to slide in and out of the tower to prevent it from breaking due to strong winds or seismic plate movements. This is also to control the excessive pressure accumulation that occurs in the center of the bridge, because if the bridge is built so close and compresses too much to the tower structure, the pressure transfer spreads around the bridge eventually creating a "stressed bridge" phenomenon, which can cause the bridge to collapse easily . The bridge is located 170 meters (558 ft) from the road surface and is 584 meters (1,916 ft) long, while its weight is 750 tons (750,000 kg).
The Petronas air bridge is also reinforced with 2 "hanging arc" legs on each side; the length of each foot is 51 meters and is locked to the 29th floor of each tower. Once built on land, the air bridge is lifted into place on the tower for three days. in July 1995. Instead of being directly connected to the tower, the air bridge can shift or push in and out to offset the effects of the wind. Located on the 41st and 42nd floors, the air bridge connects the conference room, executive dining room and prayer room.
Bridge visit
Floors 41 and 42 are also known as the podium, because visitors who want to go to higher floors have to change elevators here. This bridge is open to all visitors, visitors who wish to visit the bridge for recreational purposes must obtain a ticket and visiting pass. Initially the tickets issued were free, but to maintain the quality and standard of the bridge and viewing platform maintenance system which seems to require increasingly high costs, the management of the Petronas Twin Towers Bridge has decided to charge a fair price for visiting.
All tickets sold generally apply the ticket sales method with the concept of 'first come first serve'. In the month of Ramadan, ticket issuance is only limited to around 600 tickets. Meanwhile, for other months, ticket issuance is allocated to around 1500 to 1700 people a day. However, visitors are advised to be at the queue point earlier, namely at 06.00. This is because the ticket counter only starts operating at 08.30 every day, except Mondays (closed for maintenance purposes). The first departure time will start at 09.00 and end at 19.00. Visitors are free to choose the time of visit on that day depending on space availability. Usually, the tickets given will be sold out by the Petronas Bridge management at 09.30 am, only refunded tickets or direct sale tickets for the third day's journey from the day of operation will continue to be sold until the counter closes at 17.00.
Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor because the 42nd floor is only open to staff residents of the building. Based on the load capacity, the lift can only carry 20 visitors at a time to the bridge. This lift is a high-speed lift that moves in just 41 seconds to the bridge podium. So visitors need to wait in the waiting room provided by management. The waiting room provides theater facilities, a DVD video of the construction of the tower, information panels, a goods sorting center, goods storage lockers and several other features. Visitors will be taken to visit the bridge for 15-20 minutes with a certain color tag.
Sales ticket prices are as follows:
- Children (3—12 years): RM.35.00 (not Malaysian citizens) RM.15.00 (Malaysian citizens).
- Adults (13—60 years): RM.85.00 (not Malaysian citizens), RM.30.00 (Malaysian citizens).
- Seniors (61 years and above): RM.45.00 (not Malaysian citizens) RM.15.00 (Malaysian citizens)
The viewing platform is located on the 86th floor of Petronas Tower 2. The journey there takes 86 seconds from the departure hall. Visitors who choose package 2 are often given up to 45 minutes to complete the visit for the air bridge and viewing platform. Petronas Twin Towers Tourism
