KLCC

The Petronas Towers

Height: 1,483 ft (452 meters)
Owners: Kuala Lumpur City Centre Holdings Sendirian Berhad
Architects: Cesar Pelli & Associates
Engineers: Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers
Contractors: Mayjus and SKJ Joint Ventures
Topping Out: 1998
Official Opening: August 28, 1999

Source: http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_petronas.htm
For more information about the skycrapers, visit: http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/tallest.htm

In the process of investigating more about KLCC, I also found an interesting museum located in New York City near the Statue of Liberty. The museum is called the "Skyscraper Museum." Of course, one of the most popular skyscrapers is the World Trade Center, which was erected in the southern Manhattan for 3 decades and destroyed on Sept 11, 2001. From one of the sources that I’ve read, what was found is they’re planning to erect another skyscraper in the city and calling it "Freedom Tower."

Getting back to KLCC, according to http://www.kiat.net/towers/, it is currently the 2nd highest builiding in the world, after the Taipei 101 Financial Center. At least this building has been the highlight in the world for quite some moment. If you recall, Petronas Towers was one of the "actor" in the Blockbuster "Entrapment." The tower has been recognized as the most important bank in the Southeast Asia, and they were trying to steal big money by taking the advantage of the time when they were fixing the "millennium bug." In fact, I was looking at the towers from a hill somewhere in Gombak for the fireworks for the millennium celebration as well (did they actually steal money at that time? I don’t know, hehe…), it’s just a coincident anyway =P

Anyhow, the tower gained its popularity from a lot of different sources. The builiding is not only attactive due to its appearance, but also, in my opinion, its facilities. The shopping center, Suria KLCC, is one of my favorite shopping destination when staying in KL. The huge bookstore, Kinokuniya, is a place where you can find any single book in the market. Most importantly, they don’t care how long you stay there, and you may read the entire book in the store, sitting at the chairs provided. I know it’s not as comparative as in the states, but I think it’s rarely happenning in KL. Getting to KLCC is also extremely convenient. I would say, don’t drive to the tower, at least take public transport and get to Kota Raya or Central Market, then take LRT to KLCC and you will arrive at the underground of the shopping center. I think this is one of the reasons why KLCC is top-picked shopping center in KL. Finally, which is what I would really want to explore next is the Concert Hall, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas. I paid a visit near the hall, and got a few brochure to get ready to experience the best concert theater in town. For more information about the dewan, you can visit http://www.malaysianphilharmonic.com/dfp/popup.html.

What I’ve done today was walking around the KLCC area and take some pictures with Man Woei. The weather was not very good, at least I could take some nice shots of the buildings, achitecture, and the water fountain. Taking pictures of the water fountain was mainly "supervised" by Man Woei, hehe… of course, we were also attempting to capture pictures of the pretty girls in town =P Oh well, my camera is finally on action in the city of Kuala Lumpur. I’m not sure when I can attempt the nightview of the tower, but of course, I’ll do it. Some of the pictures are attached in this blog, hope you can enjoy =)