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 César Pelli. Completed in 1998, they surpassed Chicago's Willis Tower (then the Sears Tower) as the record-holding tallest structure; they themselves were surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2004. Since 2019, they are no longer the tallest buildings in Malaysia, having been surpassed by the 1,614-ft (492-m) Exchange 106. 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-floor 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.
See C. Pelli and M. J. Crosbie, Petronas Towers (2001); M. Thomas, The Petronas Twin Towers (2001).
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