Petronas

Tower

Faculty:
Prof. S. P. Sapre
Efforts By:
Vipul Sonagara
(3108)

About Petronas Tower

Petronas Towers was the worlds tallest building from

1998 to 2004,

Taipei 101. The tower itself is located at

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 88 habitable floors and 452
meters in height when measured from the main entrance to its
until it was surpassed by

pinnacle.

double-decked sky
bridge, pinnacles and an advanced elevator system.
The main use of the building is for office space although Retail ,
The prominent features of the towers are the

Hotel , Residential, Entertainment facilities are available.

Offices : Twin towers (designated for offices rather than a hotel) of
approximately 85 tenantable storeys; an additional 60 storey office tower, and
a 30 storey office tower. Total gross area: 1,366,714 square meters.
Retail: A multi-level retail center of total gross area 699,654 square meters.
Hotel: a 1,800-room convention hotel and conference centre. Total gross area:
491,289 square metres.
Parking: Integrated parking for 6,650 cars.

Date of Starting 1991

Date of Completion
1998 (Opened Aug 31,
1999)
Overall Height 451.9m from street
level (1483ft)
Height of Superstructure
(without pinnacle) - 378m
(1240ft)

Number of Storeys 88

Total built-up
area - 341,760
Sq.Mt

Vertical Transportation
Total= 76 lifts
29 Double-deck high speed
passenger lifts in each tower.
Each double-deck can carry
26 persons.
Number of escalators - 10 in
each tower
Tip of longest pile
to tip of pinnacle
mast - 592.4m
(1944ft)

SKY BRIDGE
Levels - 41 and 42
Height - 170m from
street level (558ft)
Weight - 750 tonnes
Support - Two-hinge arch
with rotational pins
(spherical bearings) at
Level 29, rising 63 degrees

Design/Architecture Cesar Pelli & Associates (US) in association with KLCC architects
Structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti
Tower1: Hazama Corporation
Tower2: Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering &
Contractor
Construction
City Center: B.L. Harbert International
Developer & Owner KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd
Preceded by - Willis Tower
Record height
Surpassed by - Taipei 101
Constructed
Cost
Stainless Steel
Cladding
Vision Glass
Concrete
(various strength up
to grade 80)
Steel
Foundation
Building Control
System
Building Security
System

1992

1998

US$1.6 billion
65,000 sq m (700,000 sq ft)
77,000 sq m (830,000 sq ft)
160,000 cu m in the superstructure
36,910 tonnes of beam, trusses and reinforcement
4.5m (15 ft) thick raft containing 13,200 cu m of grade 60 concrete,
weighing approximately 32,550 tonnes under each Tower, supported by
104 barrette piles from 60m to 115m in length.
Central management of air-conditioning and lighting
Card Access and Alarm Monitoring System, Closed Circuit Television
System (CCTV), Voice Intercom System, and Photo Identification System.

Early 91 - Petronas is invited to become a partner in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre
development.

Mid 91 - International "by invitation only" design competition is held. Eight firms submit
proposals.

Aug 91 - Cesar Pelli's design is declared the winner.

Aug 92 - Last race is held at the Turf Club and the land vacated.

March 93 - Excavation work for the foundation begins.

March 94 - Foundation for Tower One is ready and construction begins for Tower One.
Construction of Tower Two begins a month later in April. Construction of the cladding
begins once the tower reaches level nine. Construction of the annexe begins once the tower
reaches level 19.

May 95 - The pre-assembled skybridge arrives from Korea to the KLCC site.

7 Aug 95 - The lifting of the skybridge commences on this day.

10 Aug 95 - The skybridge is finally in place.

13 Feb 96 - Topping-up of both towers (everything's ready but the pinnacle) Jacking up of

pinnacles for both towers begins.

5 Mar 96 - Installation of pinnacle is completed for Tower Two.
11 Mar 96 - Installation of pinnacle is completed for Tower One.
June 96 - Cladding is completed.

April 96 - The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat of Pennsylvannia, United States

declared it the world's tallest building.

Aug 31 99 - Official opening by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Petronas Towers are

strategically located in the
Golden Triangle of
Kuala Lumpur a site that is
central not only
geographically but also
symbolically. Large colonial
villas set in a relatively
green area next to the
Selangor Turf Club
racecourse originally
occupied the zone.

The floor-plate of the Tower is designed based on Geometric patterns

common in architecture of Islamic heritage.

It is composed of two rotated and superimposed squares with small circular

infills. These geometric figures have been described by architects as
symbolizing unity, harmony, stability and rationality - all important principles of
Islam.

Like the exterior design, the Towers' entrance design was also inspired by the
country's cultural heritage, incorporating contemporary Malaysian motifs
adapted from traditional handicrafts such as "songket" and timber carvings.
The overall character of the building is high-tech and international but
distinctively Malaysian.

Construction planning began in January 1992. By March 1993, the excavators

were hard at work digging down to 30 metres below the surface of the site.
The extent of excavation required over 500 truck-loads of earth to be moved
every night.
The next stage was the single largest and longest concrete pour in Malaysian
history: 13,200 cubic metres of concrete was continuously poured through a
period of 54 hours for each tower. This record-breaking slab, together with 104
piles forms the foundation for each of the towers.
From this floor rose a 21-metre high retaining wall, with a perimeter length of
over 1 kilometre. This concrete shell and the basement area it enclosed required
two years of up to 40 workers on site all day and night.
The final product is the basement car parking offering a total of 5,400 parking
bays on five levels beneath the podium wrapping the towers.
As an added consideration, two different contractors were chosen for each
tower to allow cross-monitoring of construction values and techniques with one
coming to the aid of the other should problems arise.
The construction of the superstructure commenced in April 1994, after rigorous
tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design.

The 'composite' structure of the Towers employs both the flexibility of steel and
the rigidity of high-strength concrete.
Each component material was used to best effect in constructing the 452 m-high
buildings. About 80,000 cubic metres of high strength concrete with 37,000
tons of steel were used to form the frames of both Towers.
Of particular importance was maintaining the verticality of the structures
throughout the full height as they were being built. The reason for this, besides
reinforcing the aesthetic design, were to ensure structural load integrity and the
safe passage of the high-speed double-decker elevators.
The determination of verticality was monitored by international specialist
surveyors who, with the aid of global positioning systems, checked alignments
every day and every night. The same surveyor used the same instrument at the
same time in every 24 hours, thereby minimizing any element of differences in
judgment.
Construction works were done primarily at night and finishing works were
done primarily during the day (to minimize the cost of artificial lighting). As a
result, the entire management and construction team redefined the Malaysian
industry standard of 'fast-track'.

The PETRONAS Twin Towers were finally encased in steel and glass and could
be viewed as complete in June 1996.
The construction process also drew extensively from the local industry, with the
finished towers having over 60 percent local material content.
Malaysian made items included raw materials such as concrete and timber;
finishing materials such as marble, ceramic tiles and glass; pre-fabricated
materials including dry-walls, doors, suspended ceilings, and metal
decking; equipment ranging from escalators to light fittings and sanitary ware;
also furniture of all types from work-stations to custom-designed suites.
Much of these materials were used in the process of internal finishing, which was
then the focus of work teams until the end of 1996.

These pictures show the cross

section of the tower.
The cross section shows TWO
squares interlocking to each
other to form an eight-point star
shape, which is the most common
shape design in Islamic design.

Geometry is used as the

main concept of the design
of Petronas Twin Towers.
This design means:Unity (Perpaduan)
Harmony (Harmoni)
Stability (Stabil)
Rationality (Rasional)

The roof uses a lot of triangular shape structure to

give a better support to the building.

The skybridge built between the two towers

uses the combination of rectangles and
triangles structure to add more strength and
stability to the bridge.

Erection of the
skybridge

Support - Two-hinge arch with

rotational pins (spherical
bearings) at Level 29,
rising 63 degrees

The top view from the sky bridge of Petronas

Towers. It shows the landscape of the roof design
of the nearby buildings. It portrays an
intersecting symmetrical design.

Reference
http://www.kiat.net/
http://www.kiat.net/towers/reality.htm
l to be done
http://www.yangsquare.com/petronas
-tower-in-detail/