PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS

The Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or just Twin Towers) located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and were the world's tallest buildings, before being surpassed by Taipei 101 and Burj, Dubai. However, the towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004.

The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei 101 and Burj, Dubai as measured to the top of their structural components (spires, but not antennas), took over the record. Spires are considered integral parts of the architectural design of buildings, to which changes would substantially change the appearance and design of the building, whereas antennas may be added or removed without such consequences. The Petronas Twin Towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world.
The Sears Tower and the World Trade Center towers were each constructed with 110 occupied floors – 22 more than the Petronas Twin Towers’ 88 floors. The Sears Tower and the World Trade Center’s roofs and highest occupied floors substantially exceeded the height of the roof and highest floors of the Petronas Twin Towers. The Sears Tower’s tallest antenna is 75 m (246 ft) taller than the Petronas Twin Towers spires.

Designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli, the Petronas Towers were completed in 1998 and became the tallest buildings in the world on the date of completion. They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's race track. Because of the depth of the bedrock, the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundations. The 120-meter foundations were built by Bachy Soletanche, and required massive amounts of concrete. The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim religion. Another Islamic influence on the design is that the cross-section of the towers is based on a Rub el Hizb (albeit with circular sectors added to meet office space requirements). 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; however, it makes the building twice as heavy on its foundation than a comparable steel building. Supported by 23-by-23 meter concrete cores and an outer ring of widely-spaced super columns, the towers use a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides from 1300 to 2000 square metres of column-free office space per floor.Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

AMAZING INFO:

Cost : US$1.2 billion

Height :1,483 ft (451.9 m)

Steel :37,000 tonnes

Concrete :80,000 cubic metres

Floors :88 ( each floor )

GENERAL STASTITICS
Sub-Structure (Piling, Civil Works & Foundations)
· Diaphragm wall
1010m long, 800mm thick around perimeter of Phase 1 development with over 2,500 ground anchors
· Excavation & dewatering
1,200,000 cubic metres
· Piling
208 'Barette' piles (rectangular section 2.8 x 1.2m) between 40m to 115m in depth
· Raft foundations
2 raft, 4.5m thick, each containing 13,200 cubic metres of Grade 60 concrete weighing over 32,350 tons
· Access roads & drainage
Over 2.5km of site access roads and 4km of temporary drainage
Additional Car Park Foundations
· Piling
1,000 number 1m diameter piles, 29m depth
· Foundation slab
18,752 sq m of 900mm thick pressure slab
Super-Structure
· Height
Each Tower reaches a height of 452.0m (1,482.6ft) above street level
· Accommodation
4 levels of BasementConcourse and concourse mezzanine levels88 floors, including two-level entrance lobby; Sky Lobby at levels 41 and 42; and building maintenance equipment garage on level 88
· Areas (Total)
395,000 sq m / 4,251,780 sq ft
Office floorplates (Gross)
2,623.5 to 935.7 sq m / 28,239 to 10,072 sq ft
Office floorplates (Net)
1,970.1 to 591.9 sq m / 21,209 to 6,371 sq ft
Office storey heights
4.0m / 13' 2"
Office floor to ceiling height
2.650 / 8' 8"
· Highest occupied floor
Executive office at Level 86 which is 367m above sea level, with a floor area of 494.3 sq m (5,320 sq ft)
Indicative Quantities
· Concrete
80,000 cubic metres, various strengths up to Grade 80, weighing approx. 196,000 tons
· Reinforcement
10,955 tons
· Structural steel
7,500 tons of beams and trusses
· Cladding
85,000 sq m above level 6
· Doors
1,800 numbers
· Stairs
765 flights