Menara Mesiniaga, High-tech architecture skyscraper in Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Menara Mesiniaga is a pale grey office tower in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, with a rounded, multi-sided outline. Horizontal bands of greenish glass alternate with light-coloured ledges, crossed by vertical structural columns, and the base widens into a podium with a flat terrace and low perimeter walls. An angled roof canopy overhangs recessed upper glazing.

Construction of Menara Mesiniaga began in 1989 and was completed in 1992, built by Siah Brothers Construction Sdn Berhad, now SBC Corporation Berhad. Its architect, Ken Yeang, received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1995 for the design, which applied his research into bioclimatic principles to a high-tech office building in SS16, Subang Jaya.

The tower is seen as an early example of how tropical conditions can shape the design of an office building. The planted terraces cut into the facade are clearly visible from the street and show how green space can be lifted off the ground and placed at height.

The building stands in an accessible part of Subang Jaya and can be seen clearly from several points in the surrounding streets. Morning and late afternoon light tends to bring out the texture of the louvers and the color of the planted terraces better than midday sun.

The steel structure at the top of the tower was designed from the start to hold photovoltaic panels and shade the roof terraces at the same time. This detail places the building among a very small number of office towers from the early 1990s that treated solar energy as a real part of the design, not an afterthought.