Asian Twin Towers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia and is the seat of parliament for the country. There are almost 2 million people that call the city home. Kuala Lumpur is called simply KL by the locals and also has the nickname Garden City of Lights. Malaysia is a country comprised of thirteen states and three federal territories. Land borders are shared with Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Maritime borders are shared with Vietnam and the Philippines.

Answer: 1998-2004

The Petronas Twin Towers were completed in 1994 and inaugurated in 1999. The CTBUH, the organization responsible for defining and ranking tall buildings, conferred the title of 'World's Tallest Building' on the Petronas Towers from 1998 until 2004. In 2004, the Towers were surpassed by Taipei 101 built in Taipei Taiwan.

Answer: Length of BMX track at London Olympics

Okay this was perhaps a tricky question if you are not up on your sporting field measurements. The Olympic rowing course is 2000m. A length of an Olympic swimming pool is equal to 50m (4 lengths = 200m), and the distance swum by male and female triathletes at the London Games was 1500m.

The BMX track course for men in London was 450m for men and 440m for women. The Petronas Towers reach an astounding 452m (1483 feet -- 88 floors) from the ground. This distance is even greater than one lap of an Olympic athletics track (400m).

Answer: Highest two-storey foot bridge

The Petronas Towers Skybridge was lifted into place in July of 1995. This double decker bridge connects the towers on the 41st and 42nd floors. The bridge itself is not directly attached to the main building structure but is rather designed to slide in and out of protective reinforced sleeves that counteract the sway of the building during high winds and inclement weather.

The bridge is 58m (190 feet) long and sits 170m (558 feet) from the ground. The bridge weighs over 750 tons and it took workers three days to lift it into the correct position. Visitors to the Petronas Towers can visit the skybridge on an elevator that travels to the 41st floor. From personal experience -- the view is amazing!

Answer: Oil & Gas

PETRONAS is short for "Petroliam Nasional Berhad" which is a Malaysian gas and oil company. The company formed in August of 1974 and is owned completely by the Malaysian government. Fortune Magazine ranked PETRONAS as the 95th largest company in the world in 2008 and the 80th in 2009.

It is also consistently ranked as the most profitable company in all of Asia. The company is a leader in exploration and production of gas/oil, oil refining, pipeline network operations, petrochemical manufacturing, automotive engineering, and property investment.

The PETRONAS company has its headquarters in Tower One and leases space in Tower Two.

Answer: Skating Rink

Suria KLCC occupies 1,500,000 square feet of retail space in the lower levels of the building. It is easily one of the largest shopping malls in all of Asia. Also within the structure is an art gallery, visitor's center, metro station, convention center, and expansive food court. Outside the buildings stretch 17 acres of parkland containing fountains, a wading pool, footpaths, a children's playground, and beautiful trees.

Answer: Willis Tower, Chicago

The CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) is the international agency responsible for certifying heights of buildings. The Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) in Chicago has 110 occupied floors compared to 88 in the Petronas Towers. However, the Willis Tower has an antenna that extends 75.41m (247.4 feet) higher than the Petronas Towers. Unfortunately, the CTBUH regulations do not count antennas as part of a building's architectural features. The spires on the Petronas Towers are considered architectural and thus Malaysia beats USA by 10m (33 feet).

For those interested, the Empire State Building rises 381m (1,250 feet), Bank of America Tower looms 366m (1,201 feet), and the Chrysler Building stretches 319m (1,047 feet).

Answer: Race Track

The Petronas Towers were built on the site of the former Kuala Lumpur race track. Original bore holes determined that the original planned construction site was situated on the edge of an underground cliff. Half the site was soft rock and the other was decaying limestone. Engineers moved the entire building site 61 meters (200 feet) to compensate for the limestone problem.

The depth of the bedrock meant that the foundations for the towers were set deeper than any comparable building in the history of the world. Over 100 concrete piles, ranging from 60 to 114 meters deep, were drilled into the ground. Over 470,000 cubic feet of concrete was poured throughout a 54 hour period to finish the concrete raft foundation.

This was another world record for the largest ever concrete pour; a record that remained until 2007.

Answer: Entrapment

"Entrapment" (1999) was a box office hit despite negative critic reviews. The film introduces the viewer to Robert "Mac" MacDougal (Sean Connery) who is an international art thief and Virginia "Gin" Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who is an investigator for Waverly Insurance.

When a Rembrandt painting is stolen Gin tries to entrap Mac by tempting him into stealing a priceless Chinese mask. Mac discovers he is being trapped but after confronting Gin agrees to help her with a daring heist to steal $8 billion from the International Clearance Bank in the Petronas Towers.

In an attempt to escape, the two thieves have to cross beneath the Skybridge.

Answer: Islam

Over 60% of the population of Malaysia practice Islam. The Islamic influence of the design is astonishing. All 88 floors are constructed with reinforced concrete and a steel-glass facade that manifests Islamic art motifs. A more intricate detail is the cross-sectional design of the Towers that is based on a Rub el Hizb (Muslim symbol representing two overlapping squares).