Petronas Towers

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Petronas Towers
Petronas Towers
Basic data
Place: MalaysiaMalaysia Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
Construction time : 1992-1998
Opening: August 31, 1999
Status : Built
Architectural style : Postmodern
Architect : César Antonio Pelli
Use / legal
Usage : office
Owner : Petronas
Technical specifications
Height : 452 m
Height to the top: 452 m
Height to the roof: 378.6 m
Top floor: 375 m
Rank (height) : 8th place (world)
7th place (Asia)
1st place (Malaysia)
1st place (Kuala Lumpur)
Floors : 88 each
Elevators : 38 each
Usable area : 197,500 m² each
Building material : Structure: steel , reinforced concrete ;
Facade: glass, aluminum

Petronas Towers ( Eng. Petronas Towers, Mal. Menara Petronas) (often also called Petronas Twin Towers ) is the name of a pair of skyscrapers built by the petroleum company Petronas in Kuala Lumpur , the capital of Malaysia . With a total height of 452 meters, the twin towers tower over the city.

The tallest skyscraper of its time

The tops of the buildings: you owe the official height record to them

From 1998 to the completion of Taipei 101 in 2004 (508 meters), the towers with the distinctive bridge were in many rankings because of their structural height as the tallest buildings in the world .

building

The towers owe their design to the architects César Pelli & Associates Architects . The office processed its experiences here that they had made with other, very similar towers, such as B. the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle in Chicago , which was never built. Both towers have the same characteristics. The architect of the towers is César Antonio Pelli , who designed the towers in a modernist composition of steel, aluminum, concrete and glass with a polygonal structure borrowed from Islamic architecture. The floor plan of each tower corresponds to the shape of an octagonal star, the inner edges of which are again curved outwards.

used material

Approximately 36,910 tons of steel were used to build the towers. Since there was too little steel in Malaysia and imports were too expensive, many steel parts were replaced by reinforced concrete , which doubled the weight of the towers. 80,000 cubic meters of concrete with a mass of 196,000 tons were used for each tower. There are also 13,200 cubic meters or 32,550 tons of concrete for the 4.5 meter thick foundations in which the 104 between 60 and 115 meter long pillars are concreted under the building.
The ultra-high-strength concrete can withstand loads of over 150 Newtons per square millimeter. This corresponds to the pressure of a 15 km high water column.

The facade consists of 83,500 square meters of stainless steel and 77,000 square meters of glass, which form the 32,000 windows of the two towers. The two towers contain 1,800 doors.

All in all, a tower weighs around 300,000 tons.

Skybridge

SkyBridge

At a height of 172 meters (between the 41st and 42nd floors), both towers are connected to each other by a steel bridge (the so-called skybridge ). The bridge was opened to the public in 2000. It is 58.4 meters long and weighs around 750 tons. In order not to be damaged by slight oscillating movements of the two halves of the building, the cross bracing that can be walked on is mounted on huge ball bearings. It is the world's first building connecting bridge at such a great height.

Tickets for visiting the bridge and the 86th floor are available from 80 ringgit on each day from 8:30 in the morning. As a rule, all 1600 tickets for the day are sold out after around two hours. However, tickets for the following day can also be bought until the afternoon.

Furnishing

The towers provide space for several shopping centers, the natural science museum "Petrosains", a concert hall with 865 seats for the Philharmonic Malaysia , an art gallery and several hundred offices. In addition, there is an affiliated shopping center Suria KLCC with luxury boutiques of all kinds and numerous bars. A 5-storey underground car park with 5,400 parking spaces provides enough parking space.

Each floor is 4 meters high, the ceiling height is 2.65 meters. The highest floor used is the 86th floor, which is 367 meters high and has an area of ​​494.3 square meters.

Elevator system

Since the floor area of ​​the towers is smaller than that of other skyscrapers of the same order of magnitude, the elevator system presented itself as a problem, since it should still have a large capacity and short travel times with a small area required.

One solution was the use of two-story high-speed elevators , so that 58 of the 78 elevators in total consist of two cabins installed one above the other, 29 per tower. Each cabin of the double-decker elevator can accommodate 26 people, shares a shaft with another and moves at a speed of between 12.6 and 21.6 km / h. If you want to take a two-story elevator to a floor with an odd number, get on the ground floor; if you want to be transported to a floor with an even number, get on one floor higher. (Double-deck elevators are also used in the Burj Khalifa, an 828-meter-high skyscraper in Dubai.)

The remaining ten lifts per tower consist of six for the transport of materials and four for the direct transport of visitors from the parking garage or from the ground floor to the top. These four elevators only need 90 seconds to travel and they run in the longest vehicle shafts of an office building in Malaysia.

A sky lobby in the middle of the skyscraper on the 41st and 42nd floors, which can be reached with an express elevator, saves even more elevators because it is used as a "transfer station".

In addition, there are ten stairwells in each tower.

sharpen

The towers at sunset

The two peaks, modeled on a minaret, are each 73.5 meters high and weigh 176 tons each. They were manufactured in different countries, those of Tower 1 in Japan, those of Tower 2 in South Korea. It took 19 weeks to produce a tip.
The tops of the towers cannot be visited.

construction

In 1991, Petronas decided to develop and build a new building which, when completed, would be the tallest in the world. In January 1992 the planning of the new skyscraper began, in March 1993 the foundation work began and initially dug a 30 meter deep pit; 500 trucks full of earth were hauled away every night.

In April 1994, construction of the two towers above ground could begin. In order to attract attention even before completion and in order to advance the construction work as quickly as possible, it was decided here to let two construction teams compete. One of them was supposed to try to pull up Tower 1 as quickly as possible and was under the direction of Bob Prett. The other, the second team, was responsible for tower 2 and later for lifting the skybridge and was under the direction of Jon Dunsford. It also got 30 days behind schedule. During the construction period, 2,000 people were involved in erecting the towers. One always tried to reach the supporting pillars on the top finished floor first, and then put the floor on the next floor. This was followed by the outer walls, and finally the interior. It took four days to build a floor, which is relatively short. Some problems arose during construction. For example, the wrong concrete was installed on one floor, which did not withstand the required 15,000 Newtons per square centimeter. The entire floor then had to be demolished and rebuilt, floors further down and the other tower did not affect this problem. In addition, it was found in tower 1 on the 72nd floor that the tower was slightly crooked and deviated 25 millimeters from the perpendicular on the 72nd floor. Attempts were made to compensate for this by building each overhead, yet to be built floor 2 millimeters higher on one side.

The double skyscraper was officially opened on August 31, 1999.

safety

Safety is another reason the skybridge was built. The neighboring tower can also serve as an escape route. For safety reasons, the 5-storey underground car park was not built into the foundation of the towers, but rather at a different location. Another contribution to the stability of the skyscraper is made by the 16 main underground pillars per tower, which anchor the Petronas Towers firmly in the ground. Even if three of the pillars in both towers were destroyed, the stability would not be endangered. The heavy weight of the two towers, due to the partial replacement of steel with reinforced concrete, reduces the vibrations caused by wind.

use

The Petronas Towers were primarily designed as a commercial building and with their twin architecture are in the tradition of the former World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City .

Collection of facts

For a better overview and for easier comparison with other skyscrapers, all the figures are summarized here again in bullet points.

Height (information per tower)
  • Point: 452.0 m
  • structural height: 452.0 m
  • Floors: 88
  • Roof (the top floor): 378.6 m
  • top floor: 375 m
  • usable floors: 86
  • top usable floor: 367 m (494.3 m² area)
  • Point: 73.5 m
used material
  • total mass: 300,000 tons each + 750 tons skybridge (total 601,000 tons)
  • Concrete (above ground): 80,000 m³ each / 196,000 tons each
  • Concrete (foundation): total 13,200 m³ / total 32,550 tons
  • Concrete: withstands loads of over 15,000 N / cm²
  • Steel: 36,910 tons in total
  • Steel (external facade): a total of 83,500 m²
  • Glass (external facade): 77,000 m² in total
  • Windows: 32,000 in total
  • Doors: 1,800
  • Mass of a point: 176 tons
further foundation data
  • Main pillars: 16 each
  • Pillar: 104 in total
  • Pillar length: 60 to 115 m
Furnishing
  • Floor height: 4 m
  • Ceiling height: 2.65 m
  • Underground car park: 5 levels, 5,400 parking spaces
  • 1 concert hall with 865 seats
  • The sky lobby and skybridge are on the 41st and 42nd floors
Elevator system
  • Staircases: 10 each
  • Elevators: 39 each
    • Double-deck elevators: 29 each
    • "Executive lifts": 4 each
  • Elevator speed: 12.6 to 21.6 km / h, the 4 “executive lifts” need 90 seconds from the floor to the top
  • Capacity of the double-deck elevators: 26 people per car, so 52 people per elevator

Movies

  • Tempting trap from 1999 is set in the Petronas Towers, among others.
  • Don - The game begins in 2006 also takes place in the Petronas Towers, among others.
  • Petronas Twin Towers. Mega towers in Malaysia. Original title: Megastructures: Petronas Towers, documentary, 2005, 55 min., Director: Thomas Viner, production: National Geographic Channel , first broadcast on n-tv : November 11, 2008, 8:05 pm - 9:00 pm; Video stream on Youtube in English and low quality, video stream on Youku in English and higher quality.
  • The Tower , a 2012 South Korean disaster film, was shot in the Petronas Towers.

See also

Web links

Commons : Petronas Towers  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Petronas Twin Towers. Mega towers in Malaysia (see section film ), video stream on Youtube , 42:07 to 43:33
  2. ^ Petronas Twin Tower. (Video) In: YouTube. September 22, 2005, accessed March 17, 2017 .
  3. 优 酷 404 页面 - y404 - 优 酷 视频. (Video stream) In: Youku. Retrieved March 17, 2017 .

Coordinates: 3 ° 9 ′ 28 "  N , 101 ° 42 ′ 42"  E

before Tallest skyscraper in the world after that
Sears Tower 452 m
1998-2004
Taipei 101