Petronas Twin Tower

Petronas Towers, also known as Petronas Twin Towers, are twin buildings situated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the site of city’s race track. Of the two building, the one named Tower 1 was built by Hazama Corporation, while the other, known as Tower 2, was constructed by Samsung Engineering & Construction. The construction work on Petronas Towers was completed in 1998 and they were opened in August 1999. At the time of their completion, the twin buildings were the tallest buildings in the world and continued to be so till 2004.

The interior design of the towers depicts the influence of Malaysian culture. An interesting fact is that the effort that went into the building of these towers, turned out to be global. The architect was an Argentinian; the consultants were from Canada, the structural design engineers were from New York and lastly two consortiums were hired one from Japan and the other from South Korea. Location: Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Area: 4,252,000 sq. ft. Built in: 1 August 1999 Built by: KLCC Holdings Architect: Cesar Pelli There are 88 stories in Petronas Twin Towers.

The Towers were designed by Argentine-American architect Cesar Pelli. The foundation of Petronas Twin Towers is as much as 120 m deep and was built by Bachy Soletanche. Reinforced Concrete is the main material used in the construction of the Towers. Petronas Twin Towers make use of glass facade that was designed to resemble Islamic art motifs. The overall height of the Towers is 483ft. Petronas Towers spread over an area or around 3. 7 million sq. ft. The sky-bridge of the Twin Towers is at 41st and 42nd level and is 192ft long. It weighs 750 tons.

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There are 10 escalators in each building of Petronas Towers. The entry to the Towers is free, but only a limited number of timed tickets are provided on a daily basis. It cost US $1. 2 billion to build the Towers. After the initial design by the architects, structural engineers were called in to determine how the structures were to be actually built. Before construction began, the structural engineers performed site tests to ensure that the buildings, which had an estimated weight of over 300,000 metric tons, would have a good foundation.

During these examinations, they found that the original site contained an underground cliff that made it unsuitable for building. With extra work and expense, the towers could have been built on this site, but the engineers predicted that in years to come, the towers would begin to tilt. They then decided on a site, 60 meters southeast of the original, where they could develop a more stable, uniform foundation. Each building's foundation was set from 55 to 130 meters underground and contained individual supports surrounded by a mixture of sand and cement.

The supports were then filled with a concrete mixture created especially for this project. This concrete was continuously poured for over 52 hours to ensure stability and a smooth finish. The process of excavating the site and laying the foundation took about a year to complete. Subsequent to the foundation being set, construction on the towers began. Since constructing a tower this tall was new ground for the contractors involved, they were forced to use new ideas to aid in their task. They employed the Global Positioning Satellite system to calculate the accuracy of the towers' vertical height.

Instead of employing the conventional steel framework used in most skyscrapers, structural consultants opted for concrete. The designers realized that steel structures tended to be more flexible whereas the stiffer concrete would be more suitable for the job. Since the architect wished for tall, slender buildings, a new concrete, three times stronger than any other concrete used in construction, was developed and successfully deployed. The buildings' floor beams were made from steel in order to minimize height.

The fire alarm system is designed using specific fire detection systems that include smoke and heat detectors, manual call points, sprinkler-system tracking and a firemen‘s telephone / two-way intercom system. Each tower has an individual fire alarm . The fire safety plan of the towers is designed so that if a fire happens on a floor, the shuttle elevators will be available for use in evacuating residents. Other floors would be evacuated or residents relocated only if required. They can also go one tower to another through the bridge on 41 and 42 level if fire breaks out.

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