Discovering Geometry at Petronas Twin Towers

MALAYSIA: Report "Geometry at Petronas Twin Towers" from teacher/tutor Ah-Choo Koo and 13-16 year old students in Malaysia.

Hi all at Connecting Math in our Lives.

This report was produced by some of the students from Malaysia. We would like to share it with others. It is about some observation of Geometry in architectural design of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Petronas Twin Towers at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is designed and built based on a combination of various attractive geometrical concepts. It combines Islamic architecture such as polygons, spheres, shapes carving design with other local traditional architecture. This architecture design reflects the uniqueness of Malaysian architecture.

Structure is the most important element to ensure the strength and the stability of a building. Without a strong structure, the buildings is not safe to be occupied.

We took some pictures to show the cross section of the tower. The cross section shows TWO squares interlocking to each other to form an eight-point star shape, which is the most common shape design in Islamic design. Geometry is used as the main concept of the design of Petronas Twin Towers.

This design means:-

Unity (Perpaduan)

Harmony (Harmoni)

Stability (Stabil)

Rationality (Rasional)

The roof uses a lot of triangular shape structure to give a better support to the building.

The skybridge built between the two towers uses the combination of rectangles and triangles structure to add more strength and stability to the bridge

We also took a photo showing the top view from the skybridge of Petronas Twin Towers. It shows a landscape of the roof design of the nearby buildings. It portrays an interesting symmetrical design.

More in depth discovery of geometry can be done in buildings and architecture design.

Hope this is useful to create the awareness that geometry or math can be easily found in our real lives and we are able to see the importance of math in architectural design.

If you are interested we could do further research on the value and meaning of Islamic design. I strongly believe that we could promote the wonderful value of Islam through arts and design. Arts and design is an international language, and most of the people value it a lot. We hope you'll share your opinion with us. share yours with us.

Thanks to Shihab dan kawan-kawan (Hafiz, Aechoi, Zaihan, Intan who took the photos at KLCC.), Cikgu Sue, Anisah and students at MTAZ (who put efforts on the translation).

Ah-Choo Koo, Math Tutor, Malaysia..