Warisan Merdeka Tower (PNB118) Site Visit

Have you ever wonder how the urbanscapes in Kuala Lumpur have been improved lately??

Photo from Lowyat forum

March 18, 2019- okay first of all I want to thank the CIVER and the Civil Engineering Faculty (FKASA) of Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) for this memorable visit. I was really excited about being shortlisted to join this faculty's programme. Well, let me introduce what is Warisan Merdeka Tower (PNB118) first. The Merdeka PNB 118 is a development by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB ~~; and yes that's how it get its name~~) with the budget of RM 5 billion. It will be fully completed by 2024 for the building and retail mall I guess but for residential idk.

The tower site itself was bought by the PNB to be develope and at the same time to preserve the existed archie which are the Stadium Merdeka and the Stadium Negara.
As we know the Stadium Merdeka or the Independence Stadium was the declaration place of our pride of free Malaysians from the foreign control on 31 August 1957. Hence, this historical inspired the Merdeka Tower design.

The PNB 118 design was said inspired by the hand gesture of the Late Tunku Abdul Rahman, the father of independence while shouting "Merdeka!" during the declaration of Independence Day.

Look how amazing the design is!

Figure 1: The plan of the Merdeka tower Site upon the completion

Figure 2: Kuala Lumpur Railway system

The PNB 118 tower can be accessed by public transport. Based on the Figure1 and Figure 2, you can take MRT and stop at the Merdeka Station while another method you can use is by using KL Monorail and stop at Maharajalela station.

Okay now, let's we talk about the engineering involved. The PNB118 constructed using the Top down construction method which means that the excavation works and substructures were built during the superstructure construction. It is the safest method due to limited spaces and to protect the nearby historical structures.

The design also has been tested in the wind tunnel to resist the wind load based on previous years data.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5:

The Hyatt hotel is the first tenant of the Merdeka tower. Based on the Figure 3 and 4 are the 17 floors of where the grand, luxurious and 5 stars Hyatt hotel would be located. The observation deck on the level 114 promises the great view of the highest tower in Kuala Lumpur. Huge human traffic will be a problem since the apartment, office and hotel stack on each other. Oh yeah forgot to mention that the tower is just like lego with 3 proportions stack on top of each other. So to prevent from human congestions, they provide sky lobby(see Figure 5) on floor 33 and 67 so you need transit lift here la to which destination you want to go. At the same figure5 at north elevation, the transparent glass lift will take you from the retail mall to the observation deck.

By the end of 2019, it is estimated that the 90th floor will be built and achieve the height more than 451.9 metres which higher than the Petronas Twin Towers height! Mannnnnn THAT'S INSANE

Next thing I want to highlight is, the traffic congestions will occur to the area and the DBKL requirement is to upgrade the traffic nearby the project but the problem already included and underground road tunnel have been designed and will be built... The tunnel will have two levels one for In flow and the other is out flow from the PNB 118.. And btw the facade is made of heat resistant material and the colour of the facades vary based on the reflection of light. Some might be dark and some might be light.

It was a great and beneficial experience to go here and many things I have learnt here. There are a lot of information that I want to write here but it will be a long blog hahaha.. So here some of the footage that I took: