Petronas Towers

Petronas Towers twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that are the world's tallest twin towers. Standing 1,483 ft (452 m) high, they were designed by the Argentinian-American architect Cesar Pelli. Completed in 1997, they surpassed Chicago's Willis Tower (then the Sears Tower) as the record-holding tallest structure; they themselves were surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2003. The twin towers house Petronas, Malaysia's government-owned oil company, as well as associated Malaysian firms and multinational companies. Part of a large burst of construction that marked the country's 1990s economic boom, the buildings stand at the northern end of a projected high-tech business zone, the Malaysia Multimedia Supercorridor. Built of steel-reinforced concrete columns clad in stainless steel and glass, with a design based on geometric patterns originating in ancient Islam, the 88-story buildings are connected at levels 41 and 42 by a double-decker pedestrian skybridge, and each tower is surmounted by a 242-ft-high (74-m) pinnacle. At the lower level, the Petronas Towers also include a concert hall that is home to the Malaysian Philharmonic and a business reference library.

Bibliography: See C. Pelli and M. J. Crosbie, Petronas Towers (2001); M. Thomas, The Petronas Twin Towers (2001).