Building the Skybridge

One of the most dramatic feats was the placement of the two-story skybridge, which was built on the ground and hoisted to its location joining the 41st and 42nd floors (Fig. 2.14). After it was lifted into position, the legs which had been installed on the towers were swung down into place, and connected under the bridge.

 

Figure 2.14 - Two-story skybridge, built on the ground and hoisted into place

The skybridge was not a requirement of the building program, but as the project developed it became an essential part of the overall functions of the towers. It links two sky lobby levels in both towers permitting easy access to meeting rooms, an executive dining room and a Surau (prayer room), distributed between the towers.

By making the skybridge fire-rated and smoke-controlled, its mid-height location permits exiting from one tower to the other, as an alternative exit path. This reduces the cumulative demand in each tower and enabled to avoid adding two fire stairs that would otherwise have been required from the sky lobbies down.

The structural design for the bridge was difficult because it had to accommodate possible differential movements of both buildings. The final solution was the simplest, clearest, and most elegant. It is an inverted V-shaped three-pinned arch that supports the bridge in the center, accommodating all movements while maintaining it equidistant from both towers (Fig. 2.15).

 

Figure 2.14 - An inverted V-shaped three-pinned arch of the bridge

 

One of the towers' most significant architectural characteristics is Eastern in nature: the space between them. The Petronas Towers are placed on a central axis, framing a doorway to the infinite with the skybridge.

In the spirit of Lao Tse, the Chinese philosopher who stressed that architecture's power lies not in its physical walls but instead in the space created by those walls, the towers together create a powerful super-scaled portal.