Super-tall Petronas Twin Towers at Kuala Lumpur feature windows made with Butacite®

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At 451,9 m, the Petronas Twin Towers at Kuala Lumpur City Centre, situated in downtown Kuala Lumpur, became the world's tallest building when completed. All its windows are made of laminated safety glass with DuPont™ Butacite® PVB.

The 88-story Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur's new landmark skyscraper designed Cesar Pelli, displaced the Sears Tower in Chicago as the world's tallest building.

Perhaps a lesser-known fact is that all the 56,000 sq m of windows in the building are laminated glass made using DuPont™ Butacite® PVB interlayer.

Laminated glass selected as the right glass

Laminated glass with Butacite® reduces sound transmission, gives a clean sharp reflection, and blocks solar UV radiation

Careful consideration was given to selection of the right type of glass for the windows. Malaysian building regulations generally require that the external glazing in high-rise buildings be either laminated, tempered or wired glass. Laminated glass was selected because it provides greater safety, better aesthetics and other benefits.

If broken by impact, whether from inside or outside, the fragments of a laminated glass window stay in place, held by the PVB interlayer. There are no fragments of falling glass to endanger those in the building or passers-by below; though broken, the glass continues to provide protection from the weather until replacement can be effected.

The laminated glass was produced by MSG Safety Glass Sdn. Bhd. Butacite® PVB interlayer for the laminated glass was supplied from DuPont's manufacturing plant in Ulsan, South Korea.

Better aesthetics, noise reduction and UV protection.

Laminated annealed glass gives a cleaner, sharper reflected image than tempered glass, because the tempering (or "toughening") process tends to cause small waves in the glass, distorting reflections. And the PVB interlayer in laminated glass substantially reduces sound transmission, so the occupants of the towers will be exposed to less external noise. In addition, Butacite® PVB contains additives that absorb almost all solar UV radiation which can cause fading of fabrics and upholstery.

Laminated glass with Butacite® PVB is installed in the Petronas Twin Towers

A safe and secure working environment

The Petronas Twin Towers incorporate the features of modern intelligent buildings and provide office space, executive amenities and conference facilities, all having a safe, secure and comfortable working environment. The magnificent buildings serve as the headquarters of Petronas, the Malaysian national oil company which occupies Tower one and part of Tower two. A spectacular skybridge at levels 41 and 42 links the towers to reinforce the notion of a gateway to modern Kuala Lumpur.