Some old tower (internim gallery).

2025, Jun 21 - Last updated 2025, Oct 19

(Note that as an image gallery graphical viewing is needed to actually see the.....graphics. Each picture should have an alt tag, but i don't think it's ideal to view the gallery blind.)

two plaques and one sign visible in a granite-clad smoke lobby. left to right: Announce opening date ((medium size, 1986), groundstone laid date (biggest, 1983), and a ground-floor fire plan (smallest). A grampa stands to the right of the second plaque.

Old grampa was nice enough IRL. Possibly a bit confused but he didn't show it.

A plaque: "WISMA PELITA TUNKU - KOMPLEKS INI DIBUKA SECARA RASMI OLEH: YANG TERAMAT MULIA: TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA AL-HAJ, DMN DK (KEDAH). KOM, PADA HARI SELASA 11 MAC, 1986"

Lift routing

Diagram: The building has four sets of lifts. Mezzanine is the only floor served by all lifts at once. Business lifts: serve all floors except the shopping centre floors 1, 2, and 3. Fireman's lift: serves all floors. Normally parked on ground floor and deactivated. The 'cargo lift': Serves floors B2 to M. Scenic lift: serves the remaining 10 floors from M to R. Long gone.

Then / now shots

This skyscraper as of when images were taken was one year before its 40th anniversary.

The 'then' images are available from this place (might as well state due to aggressive watermaking). Appear if you search "Wisma Pelita Tunku".

Then (1986?) Now (2025) Notes:
Then: An image from under some trees showing the front and right sides of the tower. Curvatuous and white with dark grey stripes running up the "tower" bit on top (simulating ribbon windows) of the "mall" bit on the bottom. Mall bit has wraparound glass walls which reach up two floors, and an inset walkway. A glass bubble lift is visible going up the side of the tower going up a thin dark grey inset stripe. Now: Same as before except there's more of the tree on the right (the image is wider). Stripe has been widened....i dont know how to explain this. A few cell antennae poke up above the tower. This is normal for old buildings here. Was not able to find the exact spot with the bench so i wung it. The glass bubble lift seen in the old picture has since been decommisioned. The doors for it are still visible inside, railed off and welded shut. The lowest floor it served was the mezzanine.
Then: Inside the single enclosed plaza of the building's shopping centre. There's a sizable crowd. Red, yellow, and blue banners are visible decending from the top beyond the frame, stopping just below the first floor (British floor numbering, Floor 1 is the first floor above the ground). Red plastic seats, many occupied, face towards a stage out of frame. It is reflected in the mirrored pannels on the escalator, revealing it has a grey backdrop. A few planters are visible. They are all built into the columns and while not exactly overflowing, are still filled. Now: The space is now lit with bright floodlights mounted to the columns. The banners and plants are gone. Fairy lights cross the first floor void. An extra room has been built beneath the single escalator visible. No people are visible except one and a half coffee shop patreons, blocked by the escalator room. I never before stopped to find out whether that thing under the stairs was original. While it has the same wall texture the floor tiles don't run up against it's bottom edge the same way as everywhere else. Also it faces away from the fast food place one photo down. Prevented me replicating at least one photo.
Then: Shot of people going up the escalator in the previous image (five at once). The backdrop of the stage mentioned earlier is visible. The planters and banners are also visible. Now: As of when the image was taken, nobody was using the escalator. It now goes down. The stage has been removed revealing a single double pair of fire doors leading to the smoke lobby. One is wedged open. Seems like I botched the alignment for this one.
Then: Facing across the central plaza shows a large crowd of people seated, facing the yet elusive stage. The planters and banners mentioned earlier are visible. There are at least a dozen, and come in white on red, white on green, white on blue, and black on yellow. This image faces the opposite way from the last ones, and faces a "Sugar Bun" [sic] fast food joint. Now: instead of colourful banners there's now one big red square one, advertising the "Taizong Tatoo Studio, est. 2010", hanging from the railings on the second floor. The side of the hair salon booth is visible: it seems to be glossed wood up to waist level, then windows above up to just under the escalators where it becomes painted white plywood. The Sugarbun is a bit smaller; it extended all the way left where there's now what I think is a staitonary shop. The fast food place in the corner is still operating, if downsized. I nearly left having took the previous escalator photos from the wrong angle until i noticed it, as the escalators have been reversed since while I assumed they wern't. There's now an abandoned hair salon booth...thing...under that other escalator visible.
Then: Facing upwards shows the banners in more detail and a bit of the darkened ceiling of the plaza. The banners all read "Wisma Pelita - The Shoppers' Paradise". There is no "now" image. (Shot obstructed) lynnard skyward.
Then: On the fourth floor of the shopping centre. The banners are hung from cables strung across this floor. The ceiling is visible: it consists of a dark wood lattice inset with downlighters. In the center is a hole through which a pair of crossed escalators rise into, leading into a mezzanine. The escalators are in busy use. Now: So much for subtle lighting. The downlighters have been turned off, replaced by the floodlights mentioned earlier, on the second floor, and seemingly the superior brightness of LED lighting tech. The mezzanine escalators are not in use at all and in fact were not running. One downlighter dangles out of the ceiling lattice. This is the penultimate level of the shopping center. The (tiny) atrium above seperates the offices.
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