The Petronas Towers

The 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia were completed in 1997. They were developed as an integral part of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) project, to house PETRONAS' new corporate headquarters. Squeaking past the Chicago Sears Tower by 33 feet, the spires atop the Petronas Towers peak at an impressive 1,483 feet. Yet there's a controversy. The highest occupied floor in the Sears Tower is actually 200 feet higher than the top floor of the Petronas Towers, and its antennae stretch higher still.

Built over a former racetrack, the Petronas Towers reflect a unique blend of religion and economic prosperity. The $1.6 billion towers contain more than eight million square feet of shopping and entertainment facilities, underground parking for 4,500 cars, a petroleum museum, a symphony hall, a mosque, and a multimedia conference center.

Each tower's floor plan forms an eight-pointed star, a design inspired by traditional Malaysian Islamic patterns. The 88 story towers are joined by a flexible skybridge on the 42nd floor. It took 36,910 tons of steel to build the Petronas Towers. That's heavier than 3,000 elephants! It takes 90 seconds to travel in high-speed elevators from the basement parking lot to the top of each tower. Together, the towers have 32,000 windows. It takes window washers an entire month to wash each tower just once!