a look at the twins.

i returned from kuala lumpur a few days ago.

during my trip i fell in love with the very distingushed Petronas Twin Towers.
this post won’t be about how incredibly beautiful the building is, but rather the traits that make ever so stunning.

what makes the petronas twin towers so captivating?

the twins at night

coming out of the monorail station located inside the Suria KLCC Mall underneath the towers, i was first unaware of where the tower was exactly located. scanning the area with my travel companions, with only a very poorly designed map in hand, we walked half of the tower’s circumference, looked up, only to realize that it stood adjacent to us all along. caught off guard by its presence, we were in awe as we stared with admiration at the building’s mighty figure unconsciously blubbering words of “ohhhh”s and “ahhh”s.

overtowering us

we had i-see-big-tall-building syndrome.

the thing was gigantic. i couldn’t even clearly spot the highest point of the building.
it was massive. so large that it was difficult to pinpoint the exact location of where i stood. and though it was built more than 10 years ago, it did not look outdated in any way. the islamic inspired design fell very appropriate, even at present.

Floor plan design

this brilliant design that carries culture into a modern frame is created by Cesar Pelli from Pelli Clark Pelli Architects. for the dwellers in 852, he also created our very iconic International Finance Centre, where the fireworks were set off at last nights new years eve countdown.
this man has a robust reputation for many iconic towers which become symbols of strength and integrity for the cities that they stand on. it is not surprising that the petronas twin towers has become the image to be used on almost every malaysian souvenir.

what really captures my attention is the lighting placement used to emphasize the vertices of the tower’s design. upon closer inspection, it appears that a ring of lights are placed around each of the ‘layers’ (similar to tiers on a wedding cake). each ring projects light upwards and onto the vertices, creating strong shadows that carve out the structures silhouette. intelligent lighting technique i must say. when comparing the day and night photos, the night version appears to expel a magical mysterious aura. done by Howard M Brandston, the “inner surfaces of the towers’ shafts are illuminated to create a bright channel that emphasizes the towers’ imposing height, reveals the structure’s unusual form and spatially relates one tower to the other.”

wowwwww!

WOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! (see the difference?)

for large scaled structures, its the collaboration of details which impress the audience subconsciously. a massive erected block is less impressive than a dog being able to do a “sit” trick. the excitement only goes so far.

k done my first post of 2012, i wish everyone happiness and health!
*HAPPY NEW YEARS*