Putrajaya International Convention Centre
Encyclopedia
Putrajaya International Convention Centre, or PICC, is the main convention centre in Putrajaya
Putrajaya
Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...

, Malaysia. This building is located on the top of Taman Puncak Selatan in Precinct 5.

History

It was constructed from 2001 to September 2003. Its first conference was the 10th Organisation of Islamic Conference in October same year. Since October 2004, the Putrajaya Convention Centre is officially known as Putrajaya International Convention Centre or PICC to give the impression it is at par with other international conference centres such as in London, Tokyo and Paris. It is a precinct landmark that marks the idea of an inspiring man from Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad.

Fronting the main uniqueness of the building, it is engrafted with a thorough combination of ‘Wau’, an ancient kite popularly known in the state of Terengganu and the ‘Pending Perak, a silver royal like belt buckle, of which the main hall is flanked in the bejeweled eye of such engraftment.

PICC confines an area of 135,000 square meters, or approximately 1.3 million square feet.

Besides hosting the 10th Conference of Organization of Islamic Countries
Organisation of the Islamic Conference
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Upon the groups's renaming, some sources provided the English-language translation "Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation", but and have since indicated the preferred English translation omits the "the". is an international organisation consisting of 57...

, PICC also became a conference venue for high security risk events, hosted by the government or private sector. PICC has had many important guests including foreign head of states and heads of government, important corporate personalities such as the world's richest man, Bill Gates and also the current CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer. Due to its strategic location on the top of the hill in Putrajaya and facing beautiful lakes, it has also become one of most popular places and "hot" sites for film shootings especially for commercial advertisements.

PICC can accommodate 10,000 people with more than 57 halls and small rooms ready to be used. PICC has been awarded Best Energy Efficiency Building, First Runner-up in the year 2007 by ASEAN.

Architecture

The design idea of this unique and impressive building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

 is based on the shape of the eye of 'pending perak' (a silver Malay royal belt buckle). However, the structure of the roof was designed similar to a folded origami
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...

 to alleviate the plain roundness of the structure. From the frontview, the building's eaves or wings are lifted at the sides, creating broad overhangings over the raking wall. Most of the walls are made of glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

, so natural sunlight can easily illuminate the auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...

 through the raked and shaded windows.

To complement the architecture of this convention centre is the long span geometrically complex roof structure over the plenary hall and the column-free banquet hall. The latter space can accommodate 3000 delegates, each with an uninterrupted view of the stage with the conference and main auditorium floors above supported on a sculptural system of radial arms.

Surrounding these main spaces the ancillary accommodation follows a conical geometry with the rings increasing in diameter up the building to provide the larger area needed for the plenary hall itself.

The main road leads to the convention centre over Seri Gemilang Bridge
Seri Gemilang Bridge
Seri Gemilang Bridge is a ceremonial bridge in Putrajaya, Malaysia. It connects Heritage Square with Putrajaya Convention Centre.The bridge has a main span 120 metres long, with a 60-merer span at each end, for a total length of 240 metres . There are six traffic lanes, each 3.5 metres wide...

.

Interior

Putrajaya International Convention Centre, designed to incorporate and reflect 135,000 square metres contiguous of space and occupied a site of nearly 1.3 square foot (0.120773952 m²), making it Malaysia’s largest convention centre, is having differing types of events, functions, or corporate meetings.

The Plenary Hall, for major conferences, allows a capacity of up to 3,000 people with a podium stage. The Heads of State Hall has a circular seating arrangement for 180 people. Perdana Hall has an extensive kitchen serving 3,000 diners seated at any one time and, 2 unity halls that can each be divided for seminars, exhibitions or banquets for 2000 people. All the halls are equipped with interpreter rooms with 13 different languages. On top of that PICC also has 14 suites for bilateral meetings on various levels, VIP Lounges, 10 halls for conference discussions where each hall can accommodate 200 participants, 33 meeting rooms for 10 to 100 persons, 3 public galleries, 2 restaurants, 3 prayer rooms and over 4 kiosks and a business centre for the delegates' convenience.

PICC has 2 major entrances, at the Ground and Mezzanine levels, a 2-level car park in the basement for 1,200, with lift access to all floors.

Major events in PICC

  • Organisation of the Islamic Conference
    Organisation of the Islamic Conference
    The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Upon the groups's renaming, some sources provided the English-language translation "Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation", but and have since indicated the preferred English translation omits the "the". is an international organisation consisting of 57...

     General Conference 2003
  • Malaysian International Fireworks Competition (MIFC) 2007, 2008
  • Audio Launch of Enthiran, a Tamil movie which stars Rajnikanth
    Rajnikanth
    Rajinikanth is an Indian film actor, media personality, and cultural icon. He made his debut as an actor in the National Film Award-winning motion picture Apoorva Raagangal , directed by K. Balachander, whom the actor considers his mentor....

     and Aishwarya Rai
    Aishwarya Rai
    Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994...

    , July 31, 2010.


PICC receives a yearly average of more than 230,000 delegates and 15,000 visitors around the world since 2006.

External links

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