The Exchange 106 officially becomes the tallest building in Malaysia, dethroning the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.

Petronas Twin Towers are now no longer the tallest buildings in Malaysia. Standing at the height of 451.9 metres, they were also once the world’s tallest buildings too. Another higher sksycraper called The Exchange 106 has taken over the title as Malaysia’s tallest building.

Located at the planned new financial district of Kuala Lumpur, The Exchange 106 tower stands at a height of 453.5 metres tall. That makes it 1.6m taller than the Petronas Twin Towers. What a tiny difference. In the past and even until today, there has been a lot of debates on the building’s height. Some said 492 metres (including some recently published news article regarding the tower’s completion), and some said it is just 445 metres tall.

Around a year ago, there is a sectional drawing of the tower that has been revealed at the skyscrapercity forum. The 492m figure comes from measuring from the top of the tower to the sea level. This is certainly not to be used to measure a building’s height. And then there’s argument on measuring from top to the main podium or the lower secondary entrance which is still above ground. Hence, the 445m figure comes in and is accepted by Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) earlier.

Now, after its official completion and a r0evaluation by CTBUH, the final height of the tower is now confirmed to be 453.5 metres. The news report got it wrong (I don’t blame them since the ones writing the articles are not an expert in sksycraper’s height and I believe they just copy the figure from the developer’s website). Some still insisted it is 492m despite the sectional drawing already proven it is not.

On the other hand, the tower also does not have 106 floors as suggested by its name. It only has 97 floors above ground. The 106 figure is adding in the floors below ground and some technical or unused floors in between. The developer has been over excited on bumping up its figures (both floor numbers and building height) without following the convention of measuring them. They are the culprit behind this misleading information.

Nevertheless, the tower is a magnificent addition to the city skyline of Kuala Lumpur, though certainly not as iconic as the Petronas Twin Towers. The tower’s crown looks impressive but the dull design of the rest of the tower is too hard to be ignored. The lighting of the tower is also poorly designed.

The Exchange 106 will only hold the title for a very short period of time. In about two years time, PNB118 Tower located just a short distance away will be the new tallest building in Malaysia. When completed, the tower will reach around 500m to top of its roof and up to 644m to top of its massive spire. At 644m, it will also be the second tallest building in the world, behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (828m).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)