New Forms Taschen 061

Cesar Pełli Petronas Towers

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1991-96

Wmner of an mvited International compctition for Phase One of the Kuala Lumpur City Center project, Cesar Pełli designed these twm 451 m high towers, which arc the tallest Office buildmgs in the world. Set in a development area of some 45 ha, formerly the site of the Selangor Turf Club in the heart of the commercial district or 'Colden Trianglc.' the towers are eighty-cight stories high, and are linked at the forty-first floor bya58mskybridge.

Center, whose first phase is scheduled for 1996 completion. To meet the demand for urban growth of the Malaysian Capital, the Selangor Turf Club and its surround-ing land, some 45 ha in the heart of the commercial district or "Colden Triangle" were freed for the construction of a new "city within a city." The twin eighty-eight • story, 451 m high Petronas Towers are connected by a skybridge at the forty-first floor to facilitate inter-tower communication and traf fic. Boasting a CDP growth of 8.4 percent in 1994, Malaysia's is one of the fastest expanding economies in the world, and the Petronas Towers will certainly mark Kuala Lumpur as a center to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Another tower, also in Kuala Lumpur, deserves to be considered here, even if its total height of only f ifteen stories does not place it in the same category of many of

66 Urban Strategies