Twin Towers - Fun Facts

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Interesting facts yang mungkin korang tak tahu dan tak pernah nak ambik tahu pasal Petronas Twin Towers.

* hayun hayun rotan nak babab orang

1. The first designs by Cesar Pelli were rejected by the Prime Minister. Tun felt the design was ultimately not Malaysian enough. He “wanted a building that would be identifiably Malaysian, that was of world class standard and which Malaysians could be proud of.” At first Pelli struggled to understand what it meant to be “uniquely Malaysian,”. Eventually Mahathir Mohamad understood what he wanted the towers to look like: an eight-pointed star (when seen from the top), which in Islamic culture represents “unity, harmony, stability, and rationality." However, Pelli was worried the new design limited floor space. He solved the problem by adding semicircles to each of the inner angles. Each tower would now have 43,600 square yards (36,455 m2) of floor space, including an additional circular annex standing 44 stories high.

The original proposed design was to be 1,400 feet (427 m) high, but when Dr. Mahathir realized, with a few adjustments, it could become the tallest building in the world, he pushed for the height to be raised in everyway possible. Many structural facts had to be recalculated and retested in wind tunnels. However increased height was achieved without adding any floors, but instead adding a small dome with an integrated pinnacle atop of the towers, reaching 1,483 feet (452 m) and surpassing the Sears Tower.

2. The whole complex was built on a former horse-racing track.

3. A project this big would usually require eight years, but the Malaysian budget only accounted for six. In order to meet the strict deadline, two construction consortiums were hired, one for each tower, racing each other to the top.

4. Tower One was built by a Mayjaus Joint-Venture led by Japan’s Hazama Corp. and made up of JA Jones Construction Co., MMC Engineering Services Sdn Bhd, Ho Hup Construction Co. Bhd and Mitsubishi Corp. The Tower One foreman was Robert Pratt.

Tower Two was built by a SKJ Joint-Venture led by Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Construction, and comprised of Kuk Dong Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. and Syarikat Jasatera Sdn Bhd. The Tower Two foreman was Jon Dunsford.

5. Each floor had to be constructed one at a time as the two companies raced towards the sky. In order to stay on budget each floor had to be constructed in four days.

6. Tower One Construction began one month before Tower two. The Koreans/Tower two completed earlier than the Japanese/Tower 2. Tower One was completed a few hours after tower Two.

7. Koreans got Tower Two pretty straight. However, Tower One was an inch (2.54 cm) off vertical. So, to correct the problem, the next 16 floors were slanted back 0.08 of an inch (0.2 cm). International specialist surveyors were then hired to check verticality every day and night.

8. It took 6 years of 24 hour construction to complete the twin towers. The building costs were US $ 1,8 billion (oil, dirty oil money!!!)

9. It took three days to lift the Skybridge up to the 41st/42nd floor. The first attempt was marred by a short circuit of the crane through lightning flashes that came with the typical KL thunderstorm. So the Skybridge was left hanging in the air until they repaired the crane and tried again the next day.

10. The Skybridge was designed as a Fire Escape construction, allowing occupants to move to the other tower in case of a fire alarm.

11. There are 32000 windows with UV and solar radiation steel in both Towers. It takes 2 months to clean them all.

12. French “Spiderman” Robert Alain climbed the Twin without any equipment twice. First time in 1997 the authorities knew about his intent and were prepared to stop him. Yet the police noticed him only when he was half way through his climb. They managed to catch up with the “Spiderman” and arrest him only on the 60th floor. In 2007 Alain climbed Petronas again. He stopped on the 60th floor and made a show out of surrendering to the police public applause.

13. Scenes from “Entrapment” with Sean Connery and Catherine Zena-Jones were filmed here in 1999

14. The main occupant of the buildings is Petronas, the national oil-company; other include Accenture, Al Jazeera English, Carigali Hess Bloomberg, Boeing, IBM, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, McKinsey & Co, TCS, Krawler Networks, Microsoft, and Reuters.

15. Though completed in 1998, the buildings were officially opened on August 28th, 1999; on the Malaysian National Day.

16. Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004, when Taipei 101 took over the title.

17. Petronas Towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world.

18. There are 88 stories in Petronas Twin Towers.

19. There are 10 double decker lifts in each tower. The double deck lifts can carry 26 people per deck—52 total—and can reach speeds of 20 feet (6.1 m) per second.

20. The pinnacles that top both towers stand 241 feet (73.5 m) high. They consist of a spire, mast ball and ring ball. They are also equipped with aircraft warning lights and window washing equipment. Each one took more than 19 weeks to make. One was made in Japan while the other was built in Korea.