Marina One is a perfect example of a design that you should not judge a book by its cover.

Today is a cloudy day and that makes for a nice weather for me to have a walk in the city to check out this new development called Marina One. I was told by my friend recently that it has a very nice architecture and that I should have a look at it.

Marina One, designed by Christoph Ingenhoven is a mixed-use development comprising of 4 towers (2 residential and 2 office towers) and a retail podium at the downtown of Singapore. When I look at its external, I find that it is just another massive complex of typical looking glass towers. However, as I walked to its centre, I am totally surprised. The highlight of the development is on its centre, a courtyard featuring lush landscaping and is called ‘The Heart’.

What’s more interesting from this project is the contrast of the form from its very rigid and squarish external perimeter to its organic and fluid volume on its internal perimeter. The horizontal louvre fins on every floors of the tower cascade all the way to ‘The Heart’ in undulating pattern that reminds me of flying roller-coaster platform. The busyness of the fins is then balanced with the calm greenery, noiseless waterfall and ornamental pool on the ground plane.

It looks cool right? It appears very boxy, massive, plain and nothing unusual on the outside but the design’s main feature is actually on the inside. This is an architecture that informs us not to judge a book by its cover. The only little downside to its design would be its insular nature of the development. If you didn’t watch closely and walk into the complex, you will never find out about its hidden gem.

More updated details for KL118 Tower.

Finally, after months and months of speculation and secrecy surrounding Malaysia’s plan for the next tallest building of the country, more details had been revealed recently from the officiating ceremony. What is the project that I’m talking about? It’s the KL118 development. Now, it is renamed to PNB118 since PNB is the name of the owner’s company for this project. Well, I prefer KL118 more as it has more international appeal than ‘PNB’. Nobody knows (not only foreigners but also locals) what does PNB stands for.

Also known as ‘Warisan Merdeka’ (Heritage Independence), this development is located on a site just adjacent to the historic Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara. It is also located nearby to some very old buildings like Victoria Institution, Methodist Boys School (my former secondary school), Chin Woo Stadium, and Petaling Street (Chinatown). The project has been receiving heavy criticism due to its location on low-lying area which is also full of historical buildings and that this new modern supertall would not fit into this site context. I agreed. This project also receiving strong objection as the money put into this can be more beneficial for other purposes as the city does not need another supertall yet.

The iconic feature of this development would be the construction of an 118-storey tower, now named PNB 118 Tower. The final height of this skyscraper is still not confirmed but it is now fixed to be between 600 metres to 650 metres. Some sources said 610 metres or 630 metres while some even said it would be 644 metres tall which would make it even taller than the Shanghai Tower, the current world’s second tallest building. No matter what the final height is, this PNB118 Tower would still easily be the country’s new tallest building as well as one of top five world’s tallest buildings once it is completed. And it is announced recently that it is expected to be completed in 2024. Years ago, it is planned for completion by 2020 to coincide with Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) when the country would become a developed nation by year 2020. However, the project faced delay and it’s getting back on track now. It is now officially under construction.

The tower is designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, an architecture office based in Melbourne, Australia which is previously famous for designing Eureka Tower in Melbourne. The design is also not that well received as many people commented that it is too simple, too glassy and do not possess timeless elegance like what Petronas Twin Towers achieved. I agreed to these opinions too. However, after its official rendering and an animation clip of the tower are out recently, some changed their mind and started to like the design. I’m one of them, but I still think that the design needs further improvement especially on its treatment to the top where it meets the spire. The spire is also a bit too long and out of proportion in comparison to the building form and volume. I knew it is just there to increase a substantial height for the building just to have it to be placed higher in the list of world’s tallest buildings later on.

So, here below are some new (latest) renderings, plan view and models’ images of the PNB118 Tower and also an animation clip for it by RSP Architects, the local design consultant for this project.

Looking forward to see this new skyscraper dominating the skyline of Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible. Hmm…I suddenly changed my mind and think that KL needs a new supertall now since Petronas Twin Towers have been here for almost two decades already. However, it is undeniable that the twin towers are still elegant and remain as icon of the country forever.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

More details revealed for the mysterious KL118 Tower

After giving my attention on several supertall skyscrapers under construction in China in my previous blog post, it’s time to shift back the focus to one supertall also currently undergoing construction back in my home city, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the controversial KL118 Tower. Why I said it is controversial? Because the project is receiving much more criticism than praise from the citizens regarding the need of the city for another supertall building. People also questioned that the budget (over RM 5 billion) allocated for it may be of better use in other areas. It is also criticized for its location as the site of the project is in the vicinity of many heritage buildings (Petaling Street, Stadium Merdeka, Stadium Negara, Methodist Boys School, Victoria Institution, etc) and the tower and its surrounding proposed complex development will leaves huge impact and further heavy traffic to the area.

Whatever the criticisms are, the project is given the nod to proceed but not much details are publicized about the tower since then. The KL118 Tower makes up part of a complex of development known as Warisan Merdeka (Heritage Independence) development that also includes residential towers, shopping mall, etc. The tower itself has 118 floors, and will easily surpass Petronas Twin Towers (452 metres high) as the tallest building in Malaysia. There has been speculations till now over the final height of the tower. Previously, it is tipped to be slightly over 500 metres. Then, the height is revised to allow the building to go taller without adding more floors by amending the design of the spire, the finishing crown to the skyscraper.

So, what’s the height it would be? Based on the elevations or sections drawings available (leaked online), the building will be slightly over 600 metres. The height indicated from the ground floor is at about 75 metres till the top showing 715 metres. Hence, after the reduction, the building will reach full height of 640 metres. However, I think the structure / antenna above the spire will not be counted as the architectural height of the building. Hence, the final height of the tower would be about 610 metres. And there is a feeling in me that I think the tower will be of 615.7 metres (2020 feet high) in the end, to coincide with Wawasan (Vision) 2020; the year 2020 of which we targeted to achieve the high-income / developed nation status for Malaysia. It is also the year the tower would be opened to the public after its estimated completion in 2019.

Official renderings of KL118 Tower:

 

3D works of KL118 Tower by other parties:

 

 (Renderings by Atifnadzir, http://www.skyscrapercity.com) 

Scale comparison of KL118 Tower (third from left) with other built supertall skyscrapers in the world. Petronas Twin Towers are on the most right:

 

 

Architectural drawings (plan, sections & elevations) of KL118 Tower. Here you can see quite clearly how the spire looks like, and the observation and viewing sky decks occupy four floors of the tower. And there’s a restaurant on level 113! :

 

 

 

Current site condition ( 2014 – 2019, now still construction at foundation and base level, long way to go):

When completed, it will be one of the top ten tallest buildings in the world (probably in 6th or 7th place). Now, after seeing more images / renderings of the tower, what is your thought on its design which is obviously based on diamond. KL118 Tower (I think the name will change later on when it is opened) is designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, an Australian architectural firm. It’s a nice, sleek and futuristic design, but I hope that they can do more on its elevations and its top part which is a bit boring. It is not as appealing or as impressive if compared to Petronas Twin Towers besides than its height. Still, KL118 Tower would be a good addition to the skyline of KL.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

KL’s growing skyline from past to the present, and a bit of what the city could offer in future in terms of its skyline.

I was caught in several traffic congestion along my route to return home at Cheras from Petaling Jaya just now after a meeting. Even when there is no traffic crawl at all (which is impossible on Friday’s afternoon), it would takes me at least 30 minutes to reach home. In fact, the journey just now took me one hour. But those traffic congestion actually gives me opportunity to take some time to observe the surrounding skylines of Kuala Lumpur as I pass through the city from Petaling Jaya to Cheras. From there, I realize how fast KL develops too, in terms of building construction and the ‘growing’ of the city’s skyline.

Last time (I mean like only a decade or two ago), you can only see a group of buildings (with several tall ones) all located within a small vicinity of the city. The city area of KL is very small (population too) as compared to other major cities around the world. When I was a kid, I see KL Tower on my left, surrounded by several buildings which I found that those must have been there for quite some time. Old-looking. Mostly 80s architecture style in Malaysia. Then, the much appealing and futuristic-looking Petronas Twin Towers are on my right, on which I find that it stands out not only because of its incredible height but also of its surrounding that has very little buildings.

Now, it’s totally different. Not only did I find that there are many new buildings constructed recently (particularly modern and super expensive apartments near KLCC), but also I noticed the city is actually growing. I hardly see the lower part of Petronas Twin Towers now as the view has been blocked by several new buildings in front. Many areas within the city’s Golden Triangle also appeared to be much denser. The best view to notice that is to view the city from quite a close distance at the flyover from Kampung Pandan roundabout to Berjaya Times Square and Sungei Wang Plaza junction. Nearby, there is also this so-called proposed mega-project for a new city business and financial district called Tun Razak Exchange on which I believe is still under planning stage. No activities observed on that fenced site yet, but I am looking forward to this development.

Another good news is that the city will have several new quite tall buildings in the future. Yes, I’m fascinated particularly by skyscrapers. The current number of highrises in KL is not much compared to other major cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Chicago, or Dubai, and so I desired for more in my home city. KL is currently planning to have a new country’s tallest building, called Warisan Merdeka Tower but that has caused major criticism due to its location near to several historic landmarks of the city. The tower, expected to reach over 500 metres easily is much better to be placed somewhere else than on its current proposed location which is doubt going to impact negatively to its surrounding historical stadiums, schools, and the nearby Chinatown.

Not only did the city grows within its area itself, many developers now prefer to stretch out a bit further from the congested capital. The outcome; several new cluster of buildings (like forming their own baby-skyline) nearby the city centre. These areas are like KL Sentral area (nearest to city centre) – with many Grade-A office buildings very close to each other recently constructed in the region, Mid Valley area – new cluster of mostly glass-cladded buildings surrounding the megamall accompanying the impressive-looking Telekom Tower, and Mont Kiara area – home to many complex of office buildings and apartments nearby the new National Palace of Malaysia.

Few minutes ago, I have read an interesting article from this source: http://tendtotravel.com/2012/03/kuala-lumpurs-skyline-1960s/ , written by Amer that tells roughly how the KL’s skyline grows from 1960s to the present day. It’s an amazing article due to the simple yet engaging elaboration as well as depiction of many photographs of the city back in the olden days which are definitely hard-to-be-seen nowadays. Those historical images are priceless. You may click the link I put above to read the article too. Hmm…I would love to see KL to grow in much faster rate so that it would have much awesome and ‘wow’-looking skyline in near future, and also enable us to show off to the world one day how the capital of Malaysia is.

(Images in this post are from skyscrapercity forum page discussing on skyline of Kuala Lumpur city).

Movie review: Man of Steel (2013)

I just came back home from a movie that I would give a huge thumbs up. It’s ‘Man of Steel’, a superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman. It’s directed by Zack Snyder, produced by Christopher Nolan, and scripted by David S. Goyer. Superman is one of those many popular superhero characters first originated from comics and then get to appear on big screen especially in recent years when creating a Hollywood’s superhero movie would usually promise a great return in box office. ‘Man of Steel’ is my first Superman movie that I watched. And all I have to say that it’s an epic and thrilling movie with breathtaking action sequences.

The movie tells of a young itinerant man whom is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race. The man is none other than Clark Kent, Kal-El or Superman himself. The way the story unfolds is interesting because it gets to start with substantial introduction of how Superman originated from an alien planet, then growing up on Earth without knowing his true identity yet realizing his own unique superpower, while at the same time couldn’t use it for fear of being rejected by society. Then, there are several essential flashbacks that engage the audiences to know better the inner heart of Clark Kent rather than only showing him dealing with the main villain, General Zod. It’s a thick plot yet well carried out from this movie.

The story develops very well within this movie that took over two hours. It combines right amount of character and story development, emotional elements and of course action sequences that made this movie way too awesome! No worry, there are quite a number of things from the plot to tell the audiences, and yet we won’t feel boring. Instead, we enjoyed digesting the story which is very well delivered. We enjoyed how Superman has to deal with things around, with him becoming the ‘bridge’ between the human and the extraterrestrial species he belonged to originally. The movie touches on way more deep to explore on inner conflict within Superman himself and his love to his parents (both biological and adopted) while also not neglecting the amount of action.

Action. Wow. Fantastic. I didn’t expect the amount of action sequences in this movie to be that much and that epic! It’s massive and crazy, and also too exaggerated, but it’s okay for me. I had a great time watching all that blasts, explosions, collapse, fights, etc. It’s breathtaking especially at the last part when things hit scale out-of-this-world. Honestly, Superman didn’t had much special abilities (only can fly, high strength, and eyes can blast things off), and yet this superhero provide us with huge amount of wonderful and intense action-packed scenes. And all that are greatly enhanced and heightened with impressive and heartstopping score by Hans Zimmer.

The performance by the casts are great particularly the main characters of course. Henry Cavill is the right choice for the Superman character. Strong and solid acting, and he is definitely well-received by female due to his look. Amy Adams is good as Lois Lane, the love interest of Superman. On the other hand, the visual effects are awesome in this movie. A big-budget movie like this one would definitely grant us wonderful imageries and state-of-the-art outcome. It appears that this movie nailed in every different aspects and it delivered more than just a typical superhero movie. Definitely better than Iron Man 3 which is released not long ago too (sorry to Iron Man fans). ‘Man of Steel’ is no doubt a really exciting, superb, solid and strong superhero movie, and for me is one of the best movie this year. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Man of Steel’ a total of 8.0.

But wait, why is this called ‘Man of Steel’? He is not made of steel, but I think it’s because he is as strong as steel, and that ‘man of steel’ sounds much cooler than inserting ‘superman’ into the movie’s title. By the way, ‘S’ on his uniform is actually a logo or a symbol from his alien planet Krypton, but in planet Earth, human see it as ‘S’, and so Lois, his love interest gave him this ‘Superman’ nickname. A bit of spoiler. I have to assure you that this is definitely a great movie not to be missed this year. It’s beyond my expectation. But I’m sure this movie is going to perform very well in box office too. Go for it if you haven’t.

(All images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Construction update: Shanghai Tower rises up so quick!

Shanghai Tower, is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. Designed by Gensler, it will be the tallest of a group of three supertall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower (421 m) and the Shanghai World Financial Center (492 m). Shanghai Tower is slated for a height of 632 metres with over 120 floors. When completed, it would become the tallest building in Shanghai, tallest building of any kind in China, and the world’s second tallest building, only behind Burj Khalifa.

Construction of the tower started on late 2008 and is expected to be completed by next year (2014). Looking from its current construction speed, I believed this tower would be completed on time without any major issues. Thanks to the impressive efficiency shown by the construction workers, the tower now reaches around the height of 530 metres, only around 100 metres left from its final peak. Its central core had almost reached its final level already, and the construction had approximately reached above 110th floor. What’s left would be only structures of several floors above, interior works, external cladding, services installation, and extension of its cladding to the top to reach full height. There is no spire in this design which I’m happy for it as such design is not suitable for an addition of pinnacle to raise its height.

 

The tower is now expected to top out by end of this year. But from even now, it is the tallest building in China already, towering above its two neighbouring supertalls. Let’s move on to a bit of its design. The tower take the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other, totalling 121 floors, all enclosed by the inner layer of the glass facade. Between that and the outer layer, which twists as it rises, nine indoor zones will provide public space for visitors. The transparent façade is a unique design feature, because most buildings have only a single façade using highly reflective glass to lower heat absorption, but the Shanghai Tower’s double layer of glass will eliminate the need for either layer to be opaqued.

This building looks impressive to me. I like how the idea of twisting form which symbolises something like a dragon flying up to the sky as reported by Chinese media and also the double-glass concept. Then, came a number of sustainability approach I have learnt from my previous research towards this building which is very good and helps to make it an efficient green building, a very essential element in buildings nowadays. The height is crazy, and I’m looking forward to visit the building if I am given the opportunity. What’s more impressive to me now is its construction progress. I was shocked just now when I checked on its progress. Too quick! Crazy! The tower now stands so huge and tall even when it’s not even finished yet. Marvelous! A massive architectural piece is coming up!

 

Shanghai is so beautiful especially at night. It has one of the best skylines in the world. Too bad, I have had not been there before. Perhaps, I would choose to only visit the city once this Shanghai Tower is completed and opened to the public. It would be an impressive trip to me observing so many modern skyscrapers in the city. China is now in a massive construction boom. Even not long after Shanghai Tower is completed, its title of tallest building in China would quickly be overtaken by 660 m tall Pingan International Finance Center in Shenzhen by 2016.

(All images in this post are from skyscrapercity forum on topic of this particular building. Information in this post are from various credible sources throughout the world wide web)

Construction update: One World Trade Center topped out!

On May 10th, 2013 (that’s few days ago), the One World Trade Center officially topped out to its final height of 541 metres or 1776 feet. The figure (1776) is in reference to the year of American independence, hence making the height of the this iconic tower very symbolic to the nation. Construction started in 2006 after all the clearing works had been completed on the site where the 911 tragedy struck that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 2001.

One World Trade Center, or famously known as Freedom Tower, is designed by David Childs from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. It is to contain 104 floors of office space with a three-storey observation deck occupying the top portion of the tower alongside with mechanical levels which will goes up to 110th floor,  in another symbolic reference to the 110 stories of the original Twin Towers. Its roof stood at a height of 417 metres, which resembles the roof height of the former Twin Towers too.

The building has a square foot base, nearly identical to the footprint of the original Twin Towers, and from the 20th floor upwards, the square edges of the tower’s cubic base are chamfered back, transforming the building’s shape into eight tall isosceles triangles, or an elongated square antiprism. Near its middle, the tower forms a perfect octagon in-plan, and then culminates in a glass parapet whose shape is a square oriented 45 degrees from the base. A 408-foot (124 m) sculpted mast containing the broadcasting antenna – designed in a collaboration with lighting designers and engineers – is secured by a system of cables, and rises from a circular support ring. At night, an intense beam of light will be projected above the spire into the sky above.

Like I said before, on 10th May 2013, the final component of the spire was installed atop the skyscraper, making 1WTC the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third tallest building in the world by pinnacle height. Now, let’s take a look at the current progress of the building’s construction from these very recently taken images from the others. The building is now at its final stage of construction, and is expected to be completed before end of this year.

 

 

The elevation of the tower looks very similar to Shanghai World Financial Center as you can see from the last image above. Previously, there was a change in the design of the tower at its base and on its spire even when it is already under construction at the time of the revision. But the part that affects my impression to the tower is its spire’s design now. Previously, there should be a glass radome below the spire which gently acts as a beautiful transition from the massive building block to the thin and slim pinnacle above. Now, that is omitted, and it leaves the building in quite an awkward feeling. The fully glass-clad building that ends ‘suddenly’ with a long spire. Ehh…Luckily, the circular ring at the roof is still there. I’m looking forward to the lighting design to the tower. Hmm…this building looks massive to me, but not that impressive. Anyway, it’s a very clean, bold and symbolic tower to United States. Now, it towers above all of its neighbouring buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

(Images and information in this post are from various reliable sources throughout the world wide web).

 

What’s happening to the Four Seasons Place in KL?

Right after I published my previous post regarding the newly-opened JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel that is now the world’s tallest hotel building, I was reminded back to a particular project back in my home city, Kuala Lumpur. Few years ago, it was announced that there would be a development by Four Seasons Hotel on a site besides the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, the world’s tallest twin buildings. Well, that was several years ago when this proposal is called out.

At that time, there are already some renderings released which indicates how the development would looks like once built. It would be a complex of two towers (one higher that goes over 70 storeys and another one much shorter). That was the first proposal. Well, it is good since we are going to have new a supertall building in KL soon and that would be Malaysia’s tallest hotel. Time flies, and there is an amendment to the proposal not long after. The development is now limited to only a single tower of around 60 to 70 storeys and is to be called as Four Seasons Place, the first in South East Asia and third in the world.

Fine. I saw the site besides the Petronas Twin Towers was cleared quite long ago to make way for this construction. However, there seems to be no progress over at the site at all after so many months (or even years). What’s happening to it? On-hold or what? I hate when such an ambitious project gets on-hold and it’s just right besides our twin towers landmark. Then, today I checked upon its status. Luckily, it was now not on-hold. It is officially launched last month as Four Seasons Place, a 65-storeys building comprises of luxurious residences and hotel rooms as well as a huge shopping mall (I find there is too many shopping malls in KL alone). It would also have the highest swimming pool (at over 300 metres above ground) in Malaysia and South East Asia.

 

Once built, it would be the third tallest building in Malaysia (right behind its neighbour, the Petronas Twin Towers) and the tallest hotel residences building in Malaysia. Then, I checked on the renderings and I was surprised that the design looks almost completely changed. But this latest outcome is much better and more appealing to me than the previous design. But I don’t know who is the architect behind this…I’m looking forward to the completion of this project which is expected to be in year 2016 or 2017. Go..go..go..let’s build this thing fast. It’s already been delayed for several years. I’m looking forward to have this beautiful skyscraper in KL. It’s going to be over 320 metres tall too (around 10 metres taller than Telekom Tower). That is generally tall enough to offer great views over the surrounding city of KL. The site of the development shown below (the empty lot on the right side).

(All images and information in this post are from skyscrapercity forum.)

 

Infinity Tower in Dubai to be finally completed this year

Infinity Tower…what a cool name. It is one of the many skyscrapers under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. What makes this tower much more outstanding and appealing than others? It is not the tallest in the region as it would only reach about a height of 330m (but that is still tall). It is the design of the tower that caught the attention. A tower that twists fully in 90 degree is cool and impressive! That idea breaks another boundary within architectural and engineering possibilities. A computer rendering of the tower is shown below:

(The picture above is from http://www.landvestdubai.com/infinity-tower-dubai-p134.html)

It is one of the very few buildings in the world to have a full 90 degree twist as the building rises. A famous example of building with 90 degree twist is the Turning Torso located in Sweden. However, unlike the Turning Torso, which is a series of cantilevered plates rotated about a straight structure, Infinity Tower’s much larger floor plates actually require the structure to be twisted as it raises from level to level. Each floor is rotated by 1.2˚ to achieve the full 90˚ spiral, creating the shape of a helix. The tower will have residential apartments, conference rooms, tennis courts, pools, a state of the art gymnasium, a nursery and a spa.

This Infinity Tower would be the tallest building in the world twisted in 90 degree, which poses an extreme engineering breakthrough. It will have 76 storeys. The construction started way back in 2006, but was then being put on hold in 2007 due to flooding over its foundation site. Construction only resumed in late 2008 and is expected to be completed this year, finally! As of current, the whole structure is completed, with only remaining works of interior finishing and cladding at upper portion. See the up-to-date pictures of the tower still under construction currently.

(The two pictures above are from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=358434&page=111)

The first time I get to know the existence of this project is when I was still in secondary school more than 5 years ago, when one of my classmates came to me and sketch this particular design to me. He told me that he get to know about it from somewhere else and he asked if I am familiar about it, since he knew that I am interested in architecture. And after 5 years, the tower is finally nearing completion, and is no longer exists only in our sketches and imagination.

Warisan Merdeka development, where is the final design after such a long time?!!!

It’s not a hot topic being put in discussion now anymore, because time dilutes the concern over the proposal of building Malaysia’s new tallest building. The proposal for Warisan Merdeka (Heritage of Independence) development which consists of a complex of mall, residences and an office skyscraper and estimated to costs around RM5 billion is announced to the media and supported by the nation’s prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak two years ago.

Last year, we get to know that the mega-project is to be funded by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), and the location of the complex would be at the empty area surrounding Stadium Negara and Stadium Merdeka, in which these two stadiums would be preserved as part of the development. Ahha…and the location is no stranger to me as I was passing by there everyday to my secondary school besides the area. You can see my school (Methodist Boys Secondary School Kuala Lumpur) just below the development zone outlined in the picture below.

(Picture above is from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1239285&page=5)

There is no design released yet, but there are news that the tower is going to have over 100 floors and exceeding 500m, easily surpassing the current tallest buildings in Malaysia, the 452m Petronas Twin Towers. The status of the project was still under proposal, and the project is awarded to Fender Katsalidis, an architecture firm based in Melbourne, famous for designing the slim Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Australia to roof. Actually, I prefer a better or more experienced international architectural firm to take over this iconic project like Kohn Pederson Fox, Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architects, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, or Cesar Pelli Architects (who designed the Petronas Twin Towers).

I hope there would be an outstanding design produced from the Fender Katsalidis firm for this Warisan Merdeka, which is still a tentative title for the building. This would be a challenge for the firm as this is the first supertall skyscraper project for them. The Eureka Tower they had previously designed is only less than 300m tall. Last year, they have hinted that the design would be crystalline-shaped and would reflects Islam as the main religion of the nation. Just a hint, and no design is revealed yet, while many in the forums discussing on the updates of the project are wondering how would that look like. Eureka Tower is shown below, a famous work by the architecture firm responsible for Warisan Merdeka development.

(Picture above is from http://blogs.harcourts.com.au/harcourtscityresidential/photos/)

Okay, here 2012 arrived. The construction is announced to start in mid 2012. Now is February 2012, and there are pictures showing that the earthwork preparation has begun on the site. The site has been cleared for construction to begin soon. Well, let’s hope it will be a good and quick and safe construction process from the start to the completion. But where is the design again! I believed the design has already been finalized, and should be revealed to the general public. Well…the public does not receive any further update of the development for such a long period of time already, to the point until people already stopped talking or caring about it anymore.

(Two pictures above are from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1239285&page=5, believed to be taken more than a month ago)

Everything from the development are still kept at a very low profile as Malaysia is nearing its 13th general election. I guess that the project would continues and would receives much more hypes after the current government continues winning the upcoming general election, since majority of the opposition are against the project that is known to be a waste of money, while the current government under Barisan Nasional thinks that this iconic skyscraper would represent Malaysia as a further highly competitive nation in the world, rather than still sticking to the Petronas Twin Towers that have been built 14 years ago. So, it is proven that politics play a role in project this big.

I checked out a shocking fact from the skyscrapercity forum that someone has leaked some facts regarding the tower. It is mentioned there the building would have 118 floors and the height has been increased to 545 metres to the top of roof and that the final height to the tip of spire is about 613 metres high which the latter is included in calculation of a full building’s height just like the case of Petronas Twin Towers with the spires. So, Warisan Merdeka tower would reach well over 600 metres, and might have the opportunity to even beat the under-construction Shanghai Tower (check out my previous post for this tower’s superb construction progress). Warisan Merdeka Tower is believed to be still under pending approval by Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Below shows a design study model of the development, when it is still at the very beginning stage.

(Picture above is from http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2010/10/100-storey-tallest-building-in-malaysia.html)

I think the expected year of completion of the tower would be delayed, probably a year or two from the earlier predicted year of completion which is on 2015. So, if nothing goes wrong in the project’s funding or in the government, then we would see a new tallest building in Malaysia towering above the sky of Kuala Lumpur by 2016 or 2017. The full complex would then be fully completed by 2020, which is the year envisioned for Malaysia to become a developed nation, and that this complex would be a proud symbol of that. But the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2020 is still almost impossible, looking at the current situation of Malaysia now….KL’s top sky-reachers; Petronas Twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur Tower in the picture below. Do we need another one?

(Picture above is from http://cyrildason.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/KLCC-and-KL-Tower.jpg)

I heard there is another project coming up, in Matrade zone, a zone further away from Kuala Lumpur’s highrises zone, and that supertall building would have over 100 floors too, and is expected to reach well over 500m. The Matrade Tower project is still under proposal, but it seems that I have already catch a glimpse of the design already. I think what I saw for that project is a real one…but where the hell then is the design for the much popular Warisan Merdeka development? The responsible authority, you are building such a tall skyscraper which would be among the five tallest buildings in the world once completed, and yet, you keep everything so secret and low-profile. Not only me, the public needs to see the design as well, to see whether it fits Malaysia’s context or not. Come on…it’s already time for the design to come out for the people to see, to admire or to criticize!