Completion of the Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, designed by Cesar Pelli, were completed in 1998, and in 1996 had already topped out at 451.9 meters, making them the tallest buildings in the world at completion and the first buildings outside the United States to hold that title since the Woolworth Building lost it in 1930. The twin towers, connected by a double-decker skybridge at the 41st and 42nd floors, drew their floor-plan geometry from Islamic star patterns adapted to modern skyscraper engineering, using reinforced high-strength concrete rather than steel for their core structure. They held the world's-tallest title, measured to architectural height including spires, until the 2004 completion of Taipei 101, and remain the tallest twin towers in the world, a defining symbol of Malaysia's rapid late-20th-century development.