The Petronas' current rank is No. 19. Nobody has caught the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the past decade, and it remains 70 stories taller than any building in existence.
I try to give a sympathetic analysis of supertalls tours ― it's not like these commercial buildings owe us access to their loftiest reaches. But with the exception of my visit to the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul, they have been exercises in claustrophobia, manipulation and naked greed. Yet here I find myself, ticket in hand, at the base of what were from 1998 to 2004 the tallest structures in the world. I have issues.
Any infatuation one might have with Petronas is understandable ― it doesn't slightly resemble any other skyscraper in the world. On inspection, its construction was a matter of stacking interlocked squares, creating a series of 8-pointed stars. The finishing touch was superimposing silver semicircles on the exterior, as seen in detail below.
The towers rise out of the KLCC Suria Mall. I suppose I could say a few words about Malaysia's mall culture. In South Asia, in particular, where the weather is inhospitable, these air-conditioned refuges are far more than preening grounds for sluggish adolescents. They are hugely important in developing and maintaining social bonds. Families think nothing of spending 4 or 5 hours in a mall, exercising, eating, catching up with their neighbors. When the Flight 370 next-of-kin get updates from Malaysian Airlines, their somber meetings take place in malls. Political candidates launch their campaigns in malls. Corporations hold team-building exercises in malls. Kids apply for college scholarships. Their parents buy cars.
Where I live, malls have exhausted their lifespans and are fast becoming empty concrete shells. In Malaysia, however, these retail anthills are just getting started.
To begin the towers tour, you must surrender your bag, no matter how small, and submit your body to an imaging scan. You are then unceremoniously crammed into an elevator and whisked to the skybridge connecting the towers, 41 stories up.
On the elevator to the skybridge. That fat American in the middle is literally the world's biggest asshole. His wife is trying to choke herself out.
Johnny Be Sprightly explains what will happen next.
From there you pack into another, smaller, elevator and are taken, not to the 86th floor, but the 83rd floor, where you wait around for a third elevator. It's all a time-consuming pain in the ass.
We are having fun.
At the top, it's all pretty much as you'd expect.
One constant on these tours: Given the urban air pollution, once you get over 2,000 feet or so, the views become worse, not better.
Absurd model of the city renders Petronas the city's fifth-tallest structure. Fake news!
Good Doctor, get some air conditioning in your lifts. Thanks.
I watched this guy align himself without the aid of a compass. Admire the dedication!
The thing is, if I had skipped my Petronas visit, I would have been tormented by the possibility that I missed something amazing. My rueful reckoning: You won't miss anything amazing.
The building doesn't require any mass tuned dampers or other anti-swaying technologies. For some reason, Malaysia doesn't get typhoons or cyclones.
I'll spare you any photos of the city below. But I like this shot of our tower's twin across the way.
Your group is taken back down to the 83rd floor, where you are compelled to spend 30 minutes in the gift shop. It is a hostage-taking. I buy a couple refrigerator magnets out of boredom.
I apologize for such bleak material. The morning is not completely shot, however. In my street wanderings I discover this amazing grocery store. It's got everything. I picked up some laundry detergent and "Muslim Biscuits" I've been having with my coffee.
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