ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The high-rise referee has made his decision: When they top out next month, the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be the world's tallest buildings, dethroning the Sears Tower in Chicago.
The Council on Tall Buildings at Lehigh University, a professional group devoted to high-rise design and construction, ``has given the nod - by an architectural whisker - to the Petronas Towers,'' Lehigh announced Friday.
The ruling would produce an odd result if the buildings were placed side by side.
Since Sears has a 103rd floor observation deck, and since the Petronas Towers will only be occupied up to the 86th floor, Sears' visitors would be able to look DOWN 150 feet on Petronas officer workers.
Still, the steel spires atop the Petronas Towers reach 1,483 feet. The Sears Tower, No.1 for 23 years, levels off at 1,450 feet.
Sears' architects have argued that its height should be revised to include two 67-foot steel tubes that hold up twin rooftop broadcast antennas.
But the council measures the height of a building from the sidewalk of the main entrance to what it calls ``its structural top.''
Already planned: the Shanghai Financial Center, at 1,509 feet.
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB