Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Creative Blog #9

The Petronas Towers (1998)

I found the movement, style and period of these interestingly connected to the early 20th Century Art Deco art period between 1920 and 1939, as the architect, Cesar Pelli, created the floor plans for the Petronas Towers in traditional Islamic design.

They are considered one of the tallest buildings in the world, 10 meters higher than the Sears Towers, USA. Completed in 1998, the 21st century buildings are identical with 88 floors, 1,483 feet high, shaped like an 8-pointed star, and at the 42-floor, a bridge connects the two. They have tall spires on top and have been called spiral pillars that point heavenward. They are located in Kuala Lampura, Maylasia. (Courtesy: Architecture Pictures - World's Tallest Buildings - Petronas Towers: http://architecture.about.com/od/skyscrapers/ig/World-s-Tallest-Buildings/Petronas-Towers-.htm. Photo: Copyright. iStockPhoto/Robert Churchill

These heavenly visions evolved from the geometric forms of the 20th century Art Deco period - Paris in 1925 where it originated. According to our textbook, one of the first skyscraper's (buildings over 1,000 feet) of the 20th century was William Van Alen's Chrysler Building that was completed in 1930 - the height of the Machine Age, modernism style. (Getlein, 336)

Peace,

Gwendolyn