There are 7 facts about the Petronas Twin Towers that might shock you, to amaze you with its amazing and impossible, also attract you to witness this impressive building.
1. Petronas is still the tallest tower in the universe.
On the first inaugurated in 1999, Petronas was noted as the tallest tower in the world. Later, Taiwan 101 Tower took the title in 2005. There are even more towers were built, surpassing the height of Petronas over the years. But as the twin towers, Petronas still unsurpassed as the tallest in the universe until today!
2. It takes 6 years to build the towers, with 2 consortium contractors from 2 different countries racing each other.
It actually needs at least 8 years to build the towers in this brilliant specification. Since the Malaysian only accounted the budget for 6 years, the development of these towers was racing within the time.
To meet the extreme strict deadline, Malaysia hired two different contractors to build the tower during the year of 1993 - 1999. The first tower was built by Hazama Cooperation from Japan. The second tower was built by Samsung Engineering & Construction from South Korea. Each floor only has 4 days to be finished and these countries were racing each other to finish until the top at first, resulting on the South Korea winning.
3. The double-decker sky bridge is the World's Highest Sky Bridge.
There's a double-decker sky bridge connects this twin towers. It is located on the level 41 and 42 of Petronas Twin Towers. It means, the sky bridge in hanging at 170 meters height above the land with the length almost 60 meters and the weight about 750 tons! The sky bridge was built in advanced technology, implementing flexible design instead of fixedly attached to the towers. It can slide in and out of the towers to prevent breakage, especially during the high winds.
As today, the sky bridge is open for public. At 2010 the visit was free. But nowadays, you need the entrance tickets to step into this sky bridge and enjoy the amazing panorama of Kuala Lumpur and surrounding from the sky. The tickets are restricted to only 1000 people per day.
4. The architectural is significantly designed to reflect the Islamic and local nuance.
Petronas Twin Towers were designed in postmodern style by an Argentine architect named Cesar Pelli. The first design was rejected by the prime minister, consider it's not Malaysian enough.
As the result, Petronas Twin Towers were built majority inspired by Islamic and Malay culture. As seen from the sky, the towers have 8-pointed stars shape influenced by classical Islamic building and so reflected the essential value of Islam about "unity, harmony, stability, and rationality". The facade was made with the glass wall that inspired by Islamic art pattern.
If you step inside the building, you will see the design and the pattern of the Hall's Foyer entrance are reflecting the pattern of traditional handicraft and weaving (songket) of Malaysia. You can also see the pattern of hardwood carving of East Coast peninsular Malaysia was applied to the wall panels and screens. As the flooring, the building applies the pattern of pandan weaving and bertam palm wall matting.
5. Petronas is the house for many Fortune 500 companies, with the Petronas as the only local company on the list.
As a tourism object, Petronas Twin Towers is allowed being accessed by the public from the basement to the level 41. The top levels above 41 are used as an office building. Plenty big names from Fortune 500 are housed in these towers. We can mention them such as Petronas (the host), Microsoft, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Boeing, Accenture, and Reuters.
6. There's a Spiderman ever try to conquer the tower with bare hands.
There's one notable event happened in 1997. The France guy named Alain Robert was making the sensation, try to climb the twin towers without any safety supports. He just climbs the tower with his bare hands, resulting him being called as Spiderman. He had just succeeded to reach the level 60 until the police stop and caught him. Shockingly, the Spiderman climbs the tower again 10 years later, with the same result but on the other tower.
7. Petronas in numbers
Are you ready for shock? Inside these exquisite buildings, there are 32000 windows, 1800 doors, and 5400 parking bays. The walls are multifaceted with 33000 stainless steel constructions and 55000 glass panels. Each tower weight is 300000 tons that equal to the weight of 42857 elephants!
To help people moving from each floor, there are 20 escalators and 40 lifts. These towers also supported by 20 double decker lifts (10 units of each tower) that can carry 26 people per deck up and down in high speed of maximum 6.1 meters/second! The executive lifts carried the longest ride within 90 seconds from the basement to the top.
As a Malaysian, i really don't really know these all. I Was Totally Shocked with these fascinating facts! Now it's the time for you to get amazed with the opulent Petronas Twin Towers from close up. Make your own Malaysia Airlines promotion online booking from the official sites or online travel agent to catch the most convenient flight to the center city of Kuala Lumpur for a great time in Petronas Twin Towers!
Post a Comment