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10 Years Tall
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
The Petronas Twin Towers still look brand new but they will have graced the blue skies of KL for almost ten years. The thing which is so magnetic about these towers is the constant changes as the light changes throughout the day and into the night.
These towers, which were designed by argentinian architect a César Pelli, were completed in 1998 and became the tallest buildings in the world on the date of completion. 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. 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.
In an unusual move, a different construction company was hired for each of the towers, and they were made to compete against each other. Eventually the builders of Tower 2, Samsung Constructions (the Construction Division of Samsung Corporation), Kukdong Engineering & Construction (both of South Korea), won the race, despite starting a month behind Tower 1, built by Hazama Corporation.
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-metre 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 popular shopping mall, and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Petronas, Malaysia's national oil company, set out to build the world's tallest building. Although other buildings such as the Sears Tower have higher occupied floors, a higher pinnacle, and a higher roof, the Petronas Twin Towers' spires are classified as architectural details and rise to 452 m (1483 feet), giving it the greatest structural height until Taipei 101. Taking advantage of the quirks of the rules governing building measurements (counting spires but not antennas) has generated controversy over the towers' claim to the title.
Other buildings in history have used spires to increase their height but had always been taller overall to the pinnacle when trying to claim the title, not shorter. In the aftermath of the controversy, the rules governing official titles were partially overhauled, and a number of buildings re-classified structural antenna as architectural details to boost their height rating (even though nothing was actually done to the building). Since the rules had allowed a building that looked shorter to say they were taller, newer buildings have had a focus on getting more than one of the height categories and tried to cater to popular perception rather than technicalities.
Wikipedia |
pierrefonds, Matthew-Watt, Cretense, jaywalker, ChrisJ has marked this note useful
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| To Cretense: Blue | MLINES |
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04-30 19:30 |
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Hi Murray,
A good POV of the Petronas Twin Towers, the photo has a good composition, perspective and nice colors. Have a nice day.
Pierre
Hello Murray,
Thats true, I remember that they were made in 1997. In these ten short years the towers have kept their height well, staying at number two and three tallest in the world, after Taipei 101. But soon even these will dwarfed by the huge size of the Burj Dubai, a similar height to the two patronas ontop of each other! That must be a frightful thought, you knowing the size of these and trying to picture them ontop of each other! Good work with the POV and light levels, however you look at these giants they are overly impressive - beautiful. Good sharpness. Take Care.
Matt
Hi Murray!
Great capture of this "trademark" of Malaysia and great architecture photo, overall! simple but good composition, great sharpness and contrast. Maybe I would prefer more "warm" colours, i think I see too many "blue" tones there, but that's just personal "taste". Congratulations!
Hercules
Hi Murray, A great shot of these very famous structures, I have been to Kuala Lumpur & was in awe of these two towers, this photo just brings back some great memories, your focus is excellent & wonderful colours & light, kind regards Wilson.
- ChrisJ
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(57434) - [2007-05-02 1:26]
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Hi Murray
Good symmetry between the 2 Petronas Towers & a superb upward view. Excellent sharpness. I like the overall blue colour. Tfs!
