After beginning construction in 2014 (7 years ago), Merdeka PNB118 Tower located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has now reached one of its last few major milestones in its construction. The tower is now architecturally topped out! What does it means? It means that the tower has reached its full height structurally and architecturally (including its spire).
The tower has now reached the height of 644 metres as declared to the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). However, it appears that the spire is still rising up in these few days after it has been declared as architecturally topped out. There is a possibility that the tower may go beyond 644m as published earlier. Its final confirmed architectural height is still quite a mystery but there is no doubt that the tower is now the second tallest building in the world (has overtaken 632m high Shanghai Tower).
It is now only a rank below Burj Khalifa which remains as the world’s tallest building since 2009 at a staggering height of 828m. Merdeka PNB118 Tower is nearly 200m higher than Petronas Twin Towers which are previously Malaysia’s tallest and are still currently the world’s tallest twin buildings.
The current Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the construction progress of the tower multiple times. The tower is now slated to be completed around end of next year. Nevertheless, it has presently already stood tall and proud towering over everything else in the city. It is the peak of Kuala Lumpur’s skyline now.
As mentioned above, the spire is still rising steadily but I do hope that it will not rise up excessively anymore. It will make the spire look extremely tall and not in proportion to the body of the tower. Height should not be the main point (you are already the second tallest in the world!) and the overall aesthetic of the tower is the most important. There are still a lot of works yet to be done (remaining facade installation, interior works, finishing, a lot of remaining works at the podium and the construction of few buildings around it as the next phase of the development).
Hope that the tower will be completed and opened to the public very soon so that I can travel back to Malaysia and visit it personally (and go up to its much anticipated observation deck)! I will be certainly in awe of its spectacular height, design and overall appearance.
(Images in this post are from Styfly Malaysia and other online sources)
