Construction of the convention centre began in 2001 and finished in September 2003. The first conference held in PICC was the 10th Islamic Summit organised by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in October of the same year. In October 2004, the Putrajaya Convention Centre was officially renamed to the Putrajaya International Convention Centre or PICC. It is a precinct landmark, and was designed by Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. The front of the building is engrafted with a thorough combination of ‘Wau’, an ancient kite popular in the two Malaysian states of Terengganu and Kelantan and the ‘Pending Perak', a silver royal like belt buckle, also seen in the main hall. PICC confines an area of 135,000 square meters, or approximately 1.3 million square feet. Besides hosting the 10th Islamic Summit, PICC is also a conference venue for high security risk events, hosted by the government or the 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, as well as the current CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer. PICC can accommodate up to 10,000 people, with more than 57 halls and small rooms ready to be used.
Architecture
The design of the building is based on the shape of the eye of pending perak. However, the structure of the roof was designed similar to a folded origami to alleviate the plain roundness of the structure. From the front view, the building's eaves or wings are lifted at the sides, creating broad over hangings over the raking wall. Most of the walls are made of glass, so natural sunlight can easily illuminate the auditorium through the raked and shaded windows. The roof structure, which is geometrically complex, covers 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.
Interior
The Plenary Hall, designed 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
10th Islamic Summit, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
