Incredible Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Petronas Towers - the tallest skyscraper of the twentieth century How old are the Petronas Twin Towers

Updated 09.29.2014 Views 107 Comments 27

Many of those who come to Malaysia strive to see the Petronas Towers, one of the main attractions that have already become a symbol of this city. To be honest, we didn’t try to do this on purpose, but since they are located not far from the Thai consulate, we just had to look at them. In any case, it’s difficult not to notice them, since they are the highest in the city, and as soon as you raise your gaze just above the horizon, your gaze rests on them.

Petronas Twin Towers, or Petronas Twin Towers, are the most high towers twins in the world. Their height is 452 meters, there are 88 floors, which is impressive. There are taller skyscrapers in the world, but they are single. Apparently in Malaysia at one time they set a goal to take first place in the height of buildings: the Kuala Lumpur towers are the tallest, the Menara television tower is the 6th tallest (it was once the 4th).

Petronas Towers connected glass bridge Sky Bridge, which you can climb for only 10 RM (100 rubles). And there is no end to those who want it. This is where the main difficulty lies. There are so many of them that it is not a fact that you will be able to buy a ticket. It didn't work out for us. We were told, come at 8.30 am, stand in a huge line, and maybe you will be lucky and be able to buy a ticket for the day after tomorrow.

Update. In 2012, it seems the lift costs 800 rubles. At this price why is it needed...

How to find a ticket office? We enter the building, turn right, and next to the elevators there is a staircase down, where the ticket office will be.

Next to the Petronas Twin Towers there is a small and very neat KLCC park with a fountain. In our case, it was difficult to walk because of the rain, but from a distance it looked very attractive.

For some reason, photography is not allowed in the shopping center located between the Petronas Towers. More precisely, it is possible, but only in certain places. They are probably afraid of terrorists.

It was in this shopping center that we met Santa Claus in person, albeit with narrow eyes and his Snow Maiden with black hair. In general, the New Year's atmosphere is more noticeable in Malaysia than in Thailand.

And on the theme of the New Year in Malaysia, a couple more photos.

The skyscrapers of the United States of America have long held the status of the tallest buildings in the world. But the construction of 1998 in the capital of Malaysia put an end to these established traditions - the tallest at that time were the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The history of the construction of the Petronas Towers in numbers

Active construction of skyscrapers in South-East Asia began in the late 80s of the XX century. In 1992, 88-story twin towers were laid for the Malaysian oil company Petronas. The glass, concrete and steel structure was designed by Ranhill Bersekutu and Thornton Tomasetti. During the study of the area, it turned out that there is different soil under the towers, which would cause subsidence of one of the towers. Therefore, it was decided to move them 60 meters and drive piles 100 meters, making it the largest foundation in the world.

The Petronas skyscraper was built to reflect the rapid growth of a country that grew up on oil. Its construction cost $800 million. The two twin towers are just over 450 meters high (451.9). The plan of the building has the symbol of Islam - an octagonal star. This was facilitated by the participation of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who wanted to build a building in the style of Islam. Both buildings are connected by an air bridge at the 42nd floor level. The bridge not only provides fire safety, but also affects the overall reliability of the building, which was already designed at a high level.

Air bridge

A huge amount of steel went into the construction of the Petronas Tower - 36,910 tons. Due to the use of materials only from Malaysia, it was necessary to try to replace the steel with new elastic concrete, which was successfully produced here for the new high-rise. The building has underground parking for 4,500 cars. The building is equipped with high-speed elevators, so it takes only 90 seconds to get to the top floor. For the elevator, due to limited space, it was used interesting scheme– the elevators themselves are two-story, respectively, one of them stops only on even floors, and the other on odd ones.

View from the observation deck

In addition to office space, the building contains shops, an oil museum, a conference hall and even a mosque. And on the 86th floor there is an observation deck. The windows create an amazing view - there are 32,000 of them here. To completely clean them, it takes about a month of continuous operation.

Petronas Towers in disputes for high-altitude championship

After construction, this skyscraper immediately took the position of the tallest building in the world, but in fact, many questions arose on this issue. The main competitor Willis Tower lost to the twins from Malaysia by only 9 meters in absolute altitude architectural spiers. But in terms of the sheer height of the floors, the situation is exactly the opposite - the skyscraper from Chicago is 70 meters ahead of them.

One more... or rather a couple :-)

Before the Petronas Towers, the tallest building was the Sears Towers in Chicago with its 443 meters. At first, the Malaysians did not even set out to break this record. But appetite comes with eating, so the vertical race began towards the end of construction.

On the site where the towers now stand, the Selangor Hippodrome was opened in 1896, but on weekends, during racing days, there were such traffic jams on the road that the city authorities moved the hippodrome outside the city. There were many plans for the reconstruction of this territory, which was very attractive to developers.

The cost of this piece of land even then was hundreds of millions of ringgit (Malaysian dollars). The development project for this vast territory took several years, as the financial interests of many government and commercial structures were affected. At first, it was planned to set up a huge park, designed to become the “lungs” of the capital of Malaysia. However, preliminary estimates showed that the park can only be developed and maintained through commercial activities. Therefore, they decided to design a business center with a park, expand highways around the park, and build a light transit railway line. When designing the Malaysian Twins, it was not intended that they would become the tallest structure in the world.

Eight architectural studios participated in the tender for the construction of the Petronas Towers. The competition was won by an American of Argentine origin, Cesar Pelli. It was he who owned the project of another famous skyscraper - the World shopping center in NYC. In his works, Pelli always took into account the national characteristics of the country where he was building. So he designed the Petronas Towers based on Muslim motives (the majority of the Malaysian population professes Islam). The base of the Petronas Towers is shaped like an eight-pointed star - one of the symbols of Muslim culture. The buildings are also crowned with domes that vaguely resemble the outlines of mosques.

Pelley completed hundreds of models of the Petronas Towers before creating the final one. Designing the windows alone required dozens of paper models. As a result, the project was ready, and construction itself began in 1992.

The foundation of the Petronas Towers was laid at a depth of more than 100 meters - this is the largest concrete foundation in the world. There really was enough concrete here - for three days, it was poured into the base of the skyscraper every 90 seconds. In total, 13,200 cubic meters of high-strength concrete were used for the foundation of each of the towers. And to prevent the high-rise buildings from tilting, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, 16 23-meter piles were inserted into the foundation. Practice has shown that the Petronas Towers are not afraid of even strong Malaysian hurricanes. The skyscrapers will stand even if three of the 16 piles collapse.

The frame of the buildings themselves was made of steel structures, the total weight of which reaches almost 37 thousand tons. The Petronas Towers were then glazed with tinted windows to protect against the tropical heat. There are a total of 32 thousand windows here, with total area 77 square meters.

The towers have no central core and no extra space. When installing elevators in a limited space, they used an ingenious principle: the elevators were made two-story, two in each shaft: one stops only on even floors, passing odd ones, the other, accordingly, only on odd ones.

The towers can stand even if three of the sixteen supporting columns are lost. Additional safety is provided by the air bridge, mounted on giant ball bearings, since the towers sway and the bridge cannot be rigidly fixed.

Approximately in the middle, the Petronas Tower is connected by a unique Skybridge. It is now considered the highest double-decker bridge in the world.

On August 9, 1995, a unique bridge was installed at the level of the 41st and 42nd floors of the Petronas Towers, connecting the two skyscrapers. According to the architect Pelli, its construction is not only functional, but also symbolic. The light, graceful bridge connecting the Petronas Towers with each other was designed and built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries. It was then dismantled into 493 parts with a total weight of 452.64 tons and transported to Malaysia in the summer of 1995. In Kuala Lumpur, at the construction site, the bridge was assembled first on the ground and then raised to the top. The central section of the bridge consisted of 307 parts. The main part of its structure has a length of 41 m, a width of 5 m, a height of 9 m, and a weight of 325 tons. The two supporting beams of the bridge have a length of 42.6 m, each of them weighs 60 tons. Special shock absorbers were designed especially for these beams and passed a lot of tests for wind resistance, since they compensate for the effects of wind at high altitudes. The other two blocks are designed to strengthen the bridge at its ends, each of them is 8.3 m long and weighs 30 tons. The total weight of all bridge structures was 750 tons, it was assembled over three days and three nights.

By the way, the Petronas Towers Bridge has twice become a “movie star”. The first time was in the film "Trap" with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And the second one is in our “Apocalypse Code”. It was from this bridge that Anastasia Zavorotnyuk’s stunt double jumped. Moreover, during the jump, the stuntwoman's parachute caught on one of the power lines, cutting off power to an entire block of Kuala Lumpur.

Almost all the interior spaces of the Petronas Towers have very high ceilings; on some floors there are original attics, further expanding the space. The Petronas Towers are also famous for their elevators. There are as many as 76 freight and passenger lifts. Most of them are two-story. That is, the first tier of the elevator stops only on the odd-numbered floors of the Towers, and the second on the even-numbered floors. In addition, the elevators are divided into groups. For example, some run only up to the 16th floor, others travel between the middle ones, and to get to the very top, on the 41st floor you need to change over the bridge. Petronas elevators are considered one of the safest in the world. They are very spacious - each cabin can accommodate 52 people. A few years ago they were also improved in terms of speed: now climbing to the top floor of the Petronas Towers takes only one and a half minutes.

In total, about $1.6 billion was spent on the construction of the Petronas Towers. The main sponsor was Petronas itself, whose offices entirely occupy one of the towers. Local oil and media tycoon Anand Krishan took on a significant portion of the costs. He organized a large-scale PR campaign for skyscrapers - even before the completion of construction, various goods with the logo of future high-rises were sold to tourists. As a result, his company MIA Holdings also took over part of the Petronas Towers offices. Now the headquarters of many other famous companies are located here, such as Microsoft, Boeing, IBM, Al Jazeera English.

On the ground floor of the Petronas Towers there is concert hall for 840 seats, as well as art Gallery. There is also a six-level shopping center with a spherical roof, which is visited by 650 thousand people a week. Local attractions include the Gasoline Museum.

In addition, the city authorities kept their promise and a huge park appeared around the Petronas Towers. There is a children's pool, many sports grounds, attractions and fountains. A mosque and a local philharmonic hall were also built in the area adjacent to the skyscrapers, where most of the notable cultural events take place.

As the Petronas Towers grew taller, builders wondered if they should break the world record. But in the end, the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur turned out to be 88 storeys, and were inferior to the 110-storey Sears Towers by more than 65 meters. But then the resourceful Malaysians decided to attach spiers to the towers, each 73.5 meters high. Thanks to this trick, the Petronas Towers snatched the treasured 7 meters from their American competitor.

But the Petronas Towers height record was maintained only until 2003. Immediately after construction, both Australians and the same Americans joined the high-altitude race. The championship again belongs to Asia. In 2003, Taiwan's Taipei 101 soared 508 meters into the air. However, it did not hold the first place in the Top of High-Rises for long. Currently, the tallest building in the world is the Burj Dubai Tower in the UAE. Moreover, the Arabs apparently have acquired a taste for high-rise construction. Next up is a new tower – Al Burj; in the project its height should reach 1200 meters. Against this background, the Petronas Towers look more modest. But beauty does not suffer from the loss of the height record.

Address: Kuala Lumpur, City Center, 50088, Malaysia
Telephone: 603 2051 1320

Visit the sky bridge
The Petronas Towers Skybridge has been open to the public since May 2000. There is a fee to visit, or, in the early hours, you can stand in line for free tickets.
Days of visit: Tue - Sun (closed on Mon)
Visiting hours: From 9:00 to 19:00 (closed for Friday prayers from 13:00 to 14:30)

Ticket issuance: From 8:30 daily, except Mon

On the first day after our overnight arrival, we decided to visit Petronas And Menard. First of all we went to Petronas, from Chinatown This walk took us about minutes 30-45 at a calm pace, we walked in Bukit Bintang, using a KL card, which was taken at some hotel from a girl offering excursions. We arrived there at about 11 am, and we were told that there were no more tickets and if you want to get there, you need to buy them in advance. And it’s not a fact that they will be the next day. Fortunately, we went on the very first day, otherwise we would never have gotten to Petronas. So, if you are going, take this fact into account.

So the tickets are worth it 10 ringgit(approximately 100 baht) – only on Sky Bridge, 40 ringgit(about 400 baht) – on Sky Bridge and Observation Deck, 200 ringgit - for Sky Bridge, Observation Deck and lunch, 350 ringgit - for Sky Bridge, Observation Deck and Set Chinese-Japanese-Western Dinner (that is, dinner of your choice). We bought tickets for 40 ringgit.

Visit is assigned only on certain time , of course, first they will ask if you are comfortable. The procedure for visiting the Petronas Sky Bridge and the Observation deck lasts only 30 minutes: 10 minutes to the bridge and 20 minutes to the observation deck.

This is not very pleasing: you don’t have time to see everything, take a closer look, tinker with the camera, choose angles, because you have to rush, or rather, you don’t have to rush, but the organizer is rushing you. By the way, time is so limited because the next group of tourists should arrive. But despite the fact that their brochure states that they are open from 9 to 19, tickets go on sale at 8.30 and visits are made only a few times a day (about 3). Monday – closed.

1. Petronas is 88 storey skyscraper.

2. Its height is 451.9 meters.

3. In plan, the complex is two eight-pointed stars, but the architect added semicircular projections for stability.

4. Allotted for construction 6 years(1992-1998).

6. Towers were built by two different companies to create competition and improve productivity.

7. Piles are driven to a depth of more than 100 meters - largest concrete foundation in the world.

8. The area of all premises of the building is 213,750 square meters, as area 48 football fields.

9. The tower contains 765 staircase openings.

10. Parking at the towers is 5,400 spaces.

11. The towers themselves occupy 40 hectares in the city.

12. From 1998 to 2004 years they were considered the most tall buildings on the ground.

13. The main customer is the state oil corporation Petronas.

14. Construction cost: RM2 billion ($800 million).

15. A covered passage in the form of a bridge ensures fire safety of the building.

16. Cleaning 16,000 windows of one tower takes a month.

17. The towers employ 10,000 people.

18. Each tower weighs 300 tons.

19. Entrance to the Air Bridge became paid from October 1, 2010; before that time, access to the observation deck was not allowed at all.

20. Each tower has 29 high-speed passenger elevators and 10 escalators.

In film "Trap" starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, thieves carry out a computer theft of eight billion dollars from the largest bank in Petronas on New Year's Eve 2000, and then try to escape by moving from one tower to another along the holiday lights suspended on the bridge.

In film "Apocalypse Code" with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, the Russian champion (understudy of the heroine Zavorotnyuk) in skydiving makes a jump from the tower bridge between the 41st and 42nd floors (height: 170 meters).

In the documentary series "Life after people" the towers are mentioned twice: after 75 years (the gallery between the skyscrapers collapses down) and after 500 years (one tower collapses and hits another, leading to the entire complex being destroyed).

So, we bought tickets and were supposed to come to Petronas in a day, by 17.00 pm. And we arrived, we weren’t even late. The inside of the Petronas is completely made in the same style as the outside. Everything is glass, stone, metal, there are escalators, stairs, handrails all around, everything lights up, sparkles, glows.

We waited for some time until the previous group came out and they let us in. Our wait took place in a small room, one might say, a museum dedicated to the Petronas. At least it's not boring. We weren’t able to take pictures because it was very dark there, but we managed to capture something on camera. In the room there are screens with photographs of buildings, stories about how they were built, demonstrations of building structures in miniature, there is a kind of attraction: check how many times Petronas is taller than you, I liked the corner with puzzles, where there are several tasks that you need to do it ourselves, for a long time we stood over an empty cube (with an open top wall), into which we need to fit several square volumetric figures so that none of them climbs beyond these walls of the cube, but in the end we succeeded. To get an idea of what kind of museum this is, those who are interested can watch the video:

Address: Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Start of construction: 1992
Completion of construction: 1998
Height: 451.9 m
Number of floors: 88
Coordinates: 3°09"28.2"N 101°42"42.6"E

Content:

Short story

In 1998, in the capital of Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur - the Petronas Twin Towers proudly rose to the sky. The combination of colorful Islamic architecture and truly grandiose dimensions makes these skyscrapers one of the most beautiful urban buildings in the world.

View of the Petronas Towers from Central Park Kuala Lumpur

Each of the towers has 88 floors, and this is no coincidence. The Chinese consider eight to be a lucky number. Since 1996, that is, two years before completion of construction, the Petronas towers (452 meters each) were the tallest buildings on the planet, but already in 2004 their record was broken by the Taiwanese skyscraper Taipei 101. The Petronas oil company is the “financial parent” of the Petronas Towers.

The history of the Petronas Towers dates back to the early 1990s, when the state-owned oil and gas corporation Petronas, a giant comparable to Russia's Gazprom, needed a huge business center. Just at this time, the city authorities, driven to despair by the constant accumulation of traffic jams on the road to the hippodrome, forced the equestrian club to change its location. The racecourse was moved to the suburbs, creating a 40-hectare space in the heart of densely built-up Kuala Lumpur. At first they planned to build a park here, which would become the “lungs” of the metropolis.

But the costs of maintaining a park of such a huge size amounted to a tidy sum, and the city authorities came to the conclusion that it would be more expedient to build a business center and fill the adjacent territory with green spaces. Almost simultaneously with the oil and gas corporation Petronas, the company MIA Holdings, headed by Malaysian tycoon Anand Krishan, decided to contribute to the project.

Mr. Krishan staged a large-scale PR campaign for future skyscrapers, promising the residents of Kuala Lumpur not only office buildings, but also shops, a family entertainment center, new mosque, and all this is framed by a park replete with exotic flora. Eight architectural firms took part in the competition for the best design of the Petronas Towers. The winner was an American of Argentine origin, Cesar Pelli, who by that time had created many original buildings, including the World Financial Center in New York.

Petronas Towers - Muslim-style skyscrapers

The towers are designed taking into account national characteristics countries and in plan represent two eight-pointed stars - one of the motifs of Muslim symbolism. The buildings are topped with domes, the outlines of which are similar to those of mosques. The foundation was laid at a depth that boggles the imagination - 100 meters. This is the deepest concrete foundation in the world. It was built like this: during three days Every 90 seconds, trucks poured high-strength, resilient concrete into the base. To ensure the reliability of the design, the skyscraper model was blown in all directions in a wind tunnel. The experiment confirmed that Petronas is not afraid of even Malaysian hurricanes. The cost of construction, which lasted 6 years, amounted to 1.6 billion US dollars. $800 million was received from Petronas, and the rest of the costs were shared among Malaysian firms, whose offices are also located in the skyscrapers.

Sky bridge between towers

Petronas Towers - shopping and business center

One of the towers houses the headquarters of Petronas, and the other houses the offices of subsidiaries of the oil company and transnational corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, etc. The towers have a concert hall with 840 seats, an art gallery, and a conference. -center and mosque. On one of the floors of the six-level shopping center there is a Petronas Gasoline Museum, where children are explained in an accessible form why oil and gas are important to the Malaysian economy. Each building has 29 two-story elevators. They are very spacious - the cabin can accommodate 52 people. In just 90 seconds, a high-speed elevator will take passengers to the top floor. At the height between the 41st and 42nd floors, the Petronas Towers are connected by a glass walkway - the “Sky Bridge”.. He is not only observation deck, but also a means of safety - in case of fire, you can cross the bridge from one tower to another. By the way, tycoon Anand Krishan kept his promise: around the skyscrapers there is a park with running and walking paths, children's playgrounds, swimming pools and a fountain with a light show.

Petronas Towers illuminated at night

Spider-Man on top of Petronas

Petronas Towers attract fans extreme species sports. In 2009, climber Alain Robert, nicknamed “Spiderman,” made his dream come true by climbing one of the Petronas towers without technical equipment or insurance. He conquered Malaysia's tallest skyscraper only on his third attempt - in 1997 and 2007, Spider-Man's climbs were interrupted by the police.

One of the symbols of Kuala Lumpur is the Petronas Towers, which are located in the heart of the Malaysian capital. They were built in 1998 and are recognized as the center of the “Golden Triangle” - the area where best restaurants, luxury hotels and modern shopping centers.

The height of the twin towers is 451.9 m. Today, Petronas ranks 16th in terms of height of buildings in the world (information for 2018). The author of the project was the architect Cesar Pelli, who took part in an international competition in 1991. Construction began in 1992 and lasted 6 years. In 1998, the towers received the most prestigious Muslim architecture award, the Aga Khan Award.

Infrastructure and entertainment

The Petronas Towers are connected to each other by the Sky Bridge, which is located at an altitude of 170 m between the 41st and 42nd floors, it is the highest air bridge in the world. Without a rigid fixation, the design allows free movement between the two giants, thereby maintaining the integrity of the bridge during strong storm winds. The bridge is open to everyone who wishes to receive unforgettable impression from panoramic views of the city, but tickets are limited.

View of Kuala Lumpur from Sky Bridge

The real pride of the towers is the PETRONAS Philharmonic Concert Hall, which is considered the best in the world for classical music concerts. Jean Yves Thibaudet, Roberto Gonzalez-Moñas, Stephen Hough and other famous musicians from all over the world give concerts within its walls.

On the lower floors there is an ultra-fashionable shopping complex Suria KLCC. It occupies 6 floors of the building and houses fashionable and expensive shops, cinemas, an art gallery, restaurants, a concert hall, underwater aquarium and a science museum.

Next to the skyscrapers is a magnificent park with an area of 20 hectares. The main feature of the landscape creation is dancing fountains. The park is equipped with jogging and walking paths, and there is also a children's playground. Cozy and quiet park - beautiful place for recreation of tourists and local residents.

And 10 km from the center is located, in which more than 5,000 animals live, from butterflies to elephants. There is an entrance fee to the zoo. The cost depends on which parks you plan to visit.