KL118

The building in the time of humans

**KL118**, also known as Merdeka PNB 118 or Warisan Merdeka is a structurally topped-out skyscraper located in Kuala Lumpur. When it was completed in 2022, it will overtake Shanghai Tower to become the second tallest building in the world and the tallest building in Malaysia. The building is currently structurally topped out and the 144-meter spire has been fully installed. Over the course of its construction, 6 individuals scaled the entire height of the tower in order to draw attention online and across the globe. But now, with people gone, what will soon climb the building next?

**1 day after people:** The year 2023. The tower, once the home of the noises of constant construction and progress, has now fallen silent. The cranes stop operating and the worksite grinds to a halt. When night engulfs the tower, the local power grid fails, leaving the tower pitched black. The tower is no longer visible at night.

**1 year after people:** it's now 2024. With nobody to clean the 3000 windows that the tower has, they begin to turn dirty and they get covered in filth.

**6 years after people:** 2029: A tropical storm hits Kuala Lumpur, and it brings a wind speed much faster than usual. Glass shatters on the upper floors, allowing water to gush inside exposed columns that were not sealed up. The spire trembles and sways amidst the high winds, but the building's design prevents any significant structural damage to the tower.

**10 years after people:** The building's foundations are now being covered in greenery as nature conquers the entire construction site by 2033.

**15 years after people:** The windows begin to topple and disappear in the jungle (once the former construction site) below, which lets nature re-decorate the interior at 2038.

**35 years after people:** The top floor supports are failing as the absence of nearly half of its windows due to severe weathering allows more rainwater to seep in and corrode the support columns. A column fails and the top 6 floors collapse, but they slide out of the building and fall below into the jungle of what was the construction site, saving the tower.

**65 years after people:** Most of the tower has lost its blue windows by 2088, and is now a metal skeleton covered in greenery and suffering from corrosion and neglect.

**100 years after people:** A storm in 2123. Lightning strikes the 63rd floor, setting the floor ablaze and breaking the supports slightly. Despite the inferno, the tower is able to withstand the gutted floor, but the tower will meet the same fate as others too regardless. The spire is now becoming to heavy for the tower's northen columns to support. They fail and snap apart, and the spire is sent crashing down 2 floors before falling off the side of the building and into the jungle below.

**105 years after people:** The tower's top 50 floors begin to lean at 2128 due to the previous 63rd floor knocking out some columns of the tower from corrosion. They lean much more as each year progresses.

**115 years after people:** The top 50 floors are now leaning by 10 degrees to the south-west, by now the supports at the bottom give way and the top floors come crashing down onto the remaining floors, which in turn causes the entire building to lean and fall onto Stadium Negara, destroying both structures in less than half a minute. The once second tallest building in the world, has been reduced to dust and rumble.

**115 years after people:** The top 50 floors are now leaning by 20 degrees to the south-west. As another wind blows, it's gust is strong enough to send the weakened columns of the top 50 floors upper 50 floors to topple over and fall southwest onto Stadium Negara, destroying it at the same time. The toppling of the upper 50 floors triggers several floors below it to crumble and cave in, and the bottom section of the tower collapses on itself in a single but destructive pancake collapse. The tittle of 2nd tallest building in the world has been awarded to the Shanghai Tower which will maintain that tittle for the next 235 years, whilst the tittle of the tallest skyscraper in Malaysia has been awarded back to the Exchange 106 who will keep hold of the tittle for the next 135 years.