Jalan Sultan Ismail Tower

Client: Capitaland

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Date: 2007

Area: 143897m2

Budget: Undisclosed

FOA team:

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Kenichi Matsuzawa

The Jalan Sultan Ismail is one of the most central locations in Kuala Lumpur.  Lined up with luxury retail outlets, leisure and entertainment, this location within the Kuala Lumpur City Centre is also blessed with public transportation.  The Light Rail Transit system is moving along Jalan Sultan Ismail, with two stops within walking distance of the location of this site.

The project includes the provision of nearly 150,000m2 of prime office space, with a variety of floorplates, capable of hosting trading floors or multi-tenancy arrangements.  The complex will have to incorporate approximately 54,000m2 of parking space serving the offices and 14,000m2 of retail areas, which will contribute to provide activity after business hours to the complex.

The site is located right beneath the hill where the Kuala Lumpur Observatory Tower and the City Water Reservoir are located, and will benefit from the adjacency to the urban park surrounding these two facilities. Due to the presence of very large water mains in the underground, the Jalan Sultan Ismail Tower program will have to be built all above grade, and will feature an 8-storey high above ground car-parking facility.

The tower has been designed to reach 51 levels of mixed use program, with office floorplates of approximately 3,000m2 GFA.  The floorplates are based on a conventional, central-core rectangular plate, with a bay depth of 17,60m.  Two of the corners are chamfered with a 45 degree corner, that is produced incrementally over 12 floors, decreasing again to a minimum and then shifting over to the other two corners of the rectangle.  With a minimum decrease of the floorplate efficiency we have achieved a very special and dynamic form that waves alternatively producing a dramatic skyline effect.

The tower will be clad with a conventional curtain-wall unitized double glazed cladding, partially fritted and insulated following Islamic patterns to mitigate the solar exposure on the façade envelope.

On the top level of the tower, we have designe a luscious conservatory/event space, for the benefit of the building’s tenants.