Behind The Scenes : Petronas Twin Towers
Imagine constructing the tallest skyscraper in the jungles of M'sia. That was the dream the our ex-PM, Tun Mahathir. Well that's the way it was put by those who did a coverage on the development of the towers on Megastructure, aired yesterday night on Discovery Channel. Worth to catch the rerun on it.
Did you know that Tun Mahathir has role to play in design of architecture? He was the one who designed the islamic motifs.
At 1483 feet (452m) tall, the tallest building in the world at the date of its completion, measured to the highest point. The towers have 32,000 windows. Each of the twin Petronas Towers is 88 stories plus an additional architectural point (at 1242 feet), plus a tall spire to 1483 feet. The towers, which were designed by architect Cesar Pelli, were completed in 1998. The 88-floor towers constructed of largely reinforced concrete with a steel and glass facade were designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim heritage. They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's horse race track. Because of the depth of the bedrock the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundation going down some 120 meters and requiring massive amounts of concrete. In an unusual move a different construction company was hired for each of the towers, and they were made to compete against each other. Eventually the builders of Tower 2 won the race, despite starting a month behind Tower 1. Tower 1 ran into problems when they discovered the structure was 25 millimeters off from vertical. 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. Supported by 23-by-23-metre concrete cores and an outer ring of widely-spaced super columns, the towers showcase a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides from 1300 to 2000 square metres of column-free office space per floor.
Did you know that Tun Mahathir has role to play in design of architecture? He was the one who designed the islamic motifs.
At 1483 feet (452m) tall, the tallest building in the world at the date of its completion, measured to the highest point. The towers have 32,000 windows. Each of the twin Petronas Towers is 88 stories plus an additional architectural point (at 1242 feet), plus a tall spire to 1483 feet. The towers, which were designed by architect Cesar Pelli, were completed in 1998. The 88-floor towers constructed of largely reinforced concrete with a steel and glass facade were designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim heritage. They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's horse race track. Because of the depth of the bedrock the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundation going down some 120 meters and requiring massive amounts of concrete. In an unusual move a different construction company was hired for each of the towers, and they were made to compete against each other. Eventually the builders of Tower 2 won the race, despite starting a month behind Tower 1. Tower 1 ran into problems when they discovered the structure was 25 millimeters off from vertical. 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. Supported by 23-by-23-metre concrete cores and an outer ring of widely-spaced super columns, the towers showcase a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides from 1300 to 2000 square metres of column-free office space per floor.
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