KL’s skyline lacks of light!

I am grateful that my home city, Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia is listed as one of the best skylines in comparison with all cities around the world. From the famous list by DiSerio which is expert in ranking skylines, Kuala Lumpur is ranked 8th, being placed in top 10. However, when you want to compare Kuala Lumpur with other cities with better skyline like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chicago or New York, there is no doubt that Kuala Lumpur would lose.

It is undeniable that Kuala Lumpur is not a dense city with huge number of buildings especially the tall ones. There are only 10 buildings reaching over 200 m in the city itself currently, which reached the peak with the world tallest twin buildings, Petronas Twin Towers which remain as a symbolic icon of the nation despite losing out in the world tallest building’s title in 2004 to Taipei 101. The twin towers still stand out proudly towering the skyline of the city along with KL Tower, a tall telecommunication tower built much earlier.

In total, there are only approximately around 300 buildings exceeding 100 m in the city, comparing to over 1 000 in cities like Tokyo and New York. The number itself is already a sign of defeat. Okay…even if we do not count the density of buildings in affecting a city’s skyline, the ‘presence’ of buildings acting together to form a beautiful skyline is somehow lacking in Kuala Lumpur. Understand what I mean?

In the day, all buildings are visible due to sunlight and the city appears as it is. However, when night approaches, it is hard enough to see many of the buildings in the city itself, due to the lack of artificial light installed on buildings either for safety purpose or basically mainly for aesthetic purpose. The most visible structures at night is only the twin towers and the KL tower which are lit brightly at night beautifully. Other buildings with low recognition do not receive the same treatment, and hence in photographing of the city at night, the city appears to be empty with only the twin towers and the KL tower.

Shorter or smaller buildings do play a role in the effectiveness of a skyline of a city. All the buildings can actually work together, forming a skyline that is great and unique to the city itself, serving as an identity to the nation as well. Artificial lights like neon or LED lighting are very recommended to make a city shine at night. Remember, Asian cities never sleep at night,with all those nightlife flooding the streets and in the malls…and same should goes to the buildings’ appearance too.

I remember last Sunday when I’m in a restaurant, sitting beside a full height glass overlooking part of the city. Actually there are quite a number of buildings there, but mainly all are in the dark with my focus entirely only on the twin towers. Catching people’s attention does not only requires height, but also the appearance itself which certainly can be enhanced by lighting at night. Right now, I’m a bit disappointed by the insufficient lighting to the city which would turn the city into a more appealing and interesting state. Do something about it, then Kuala Lumpur would have the chance to stay strong on its current position in the world best skylines’ ranking or even go up higher in the list. It’s a pride to the nation to have this beautiful skyline of the city, but just don’t stop at here. Private and government sectors should spend some money on the lighting, it enhances the beauty of architecture of a building and skyline of a city.

The picture below is definitely an edited/photoshopped one with the brightness adjusted to a very high level which is faking the city’s appearance at night.

Face the reality! KL doesn’t appear as beautiful as you see from this picture above. Only the pictures in the middle section and the first one show the real KL’s skyline.