Winner | Malaysia | BCI Asia Top 10 Architects 2018
The newest addition to the city’s skyline—the second-tallest skyscraper in Malaysia—stands adjacent to the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.
Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur is a mixed commercial and residential building that comprises the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences upon a retail podium.
Looming tall at 342.5 meters, the slender tower’s height-to-width ratio of 10.5 posed its share of engineering challenges with strong cross wind effects and significant wake vortices. The building drift and human comfort issues had to be addressed while ensuring that the tower’s space planning is not negatively impacted.
The extremely tight site space for logistics was also an issue, and this was resolved by the use of the crane for material hoisting by night and construction usage by morning. The hoist outlet was skipped for alternate floors to reduce space occupied for early interior design works completion. Efforts were also made for quicker construction of the fire lift to replace the crane so that the remaining hoist-occupied spaces could be completed.
The low-E glass curtainwall wrapping the tower is fully fabricated in China for better thermal and acoustic control and ready to be installed on site.
The structural system of the podium was changed from reinforced concrete to steel to accommodate additional floors for services, while reducing loading on the existing structure. The belt trusses in the higher tower floors were also converted from reinforced concrete to steel trusses to speed up the tower construction.
All residential floors come with acoustic mat to cut of noise from the upper and lower floors. All pool structures are built on isolation pads to cut off noise from pool activities to the lower floors, while acoustic deflectors are designed to reduce noise generation from the outdoor chiller.
A PEEK OF LUXURY
As this is the Four Seasons’ first urban hotel in Kuala Lumpur, the interiors are designed to be reflective of its position, locality and culture with a personalised sophisticated look.
The hotel’s understated luxury is executed within balanced volumes, forms, textures and tones—from wood motifs and flora-inspired sculpture to artworks of local artists and Malay-style geometric-patterned air-conditioning grills—reflecting the warmth and depth of the country’s peoples, culture and heritage.
The marble is sourced from China and Italy, while every piece of stone has been carefully selected and dry-laid prior to onsite installation to preserve the exclusivity of the natural stone character. More exclusive materials, such as the one-pierce cow hide for bed headboards and stingray skin cupboards, have been imported from Europe.
The retail podium, The Shoppes at Four Seasons Place, includes a selection of luxury retail and dining outlets spread over six floors.
PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Completion Date: July 2018
Building Height: 77 storeys
Number of Rooms/Units: Hotel: 209 rooms; Private residence: 242 units
Client/ Developer: Venus Assets Sdn Bhd
Architecture Firm: NRY Architects Sdn Bhd
Principal Architect: Ar Yew Bu Hwa
Interior Design Firm: Wilson Associates
Principal Designer: Susan Isaacs
Civil & Structural Engineer: Meinhardt (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: KTA Tenaga Sdn Bhd
Quantity Surveyor: Arcadis (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Lighting Consultant: Light Cible Sdn Bhd
Landscape Architect: Coopers Hill
Main Contractor: CRCC Malaysia Bhd
Interior Fit-Out Contractor: AB Concept
Images: Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur
