Until recently, talk of high-rise buildings related exclusively to the discussion of foreign urban architecture. However, the construction of the grandiose multifunctional complex Moscow-City, which began at the end of the last century and is still not completed to this day, the highest buildings of which compete with each other in proximity to the clouds, showed that the skyscrapers of the Russian capital rose not only above the rest of the buildings of our country, but also all over Europe.
What is Moscow City
Reading information about the Moscow-City complex, you will likely have to come across the abbreviation MMDC - Moscow International Business Center. This characteristic does not fully reflect the essence of the whole complex. Moscow City is not only business, but also an entertainment, shopping, residential complex. Office premises are sold and rented, which can be measured not only in days, months and years, but even hours. Residential apartments can also be purchased in the property or stay in them for a short time.
From here it is easy to get to all Moscow airports. Here is the interchange hub of three metro stations. Here comes transport by air, water, roads and railways. These are not just the tallest buildings united by a common area and style - the ambitions and ideas of many people embodied in Moscow City. This complex has become a kind of sign of a new era in the development of the country and its main city.
Moscow City in numbers
Construction has been underway since 1992 - over 25 years. At the moment, the project has 22 facilities. Investments amounted to more than 12 billion dollars.
The total area of all objects is: 4 014 318 m 2 .
The total size of all apartments: 701 464 m 2 .
Total office space: 1,661,892 m 2 .
Total infrastructure area: 254,750 m 2 .
The tallest building in Moscow City has 95 floors and rises to 374 meters, and the maximum in area occupies 450,000 m 2 .
The oldest pavilion, which entered the complex, began to be built back in 1977. Before the construction of Moscow City, he, along with several, built a little later, belonged to the Expocenter.
According to the plan, the construction should be completed in 2020.
How it all began
In 1991, architect Boris Thor proposed to the Moscow authorities a project for building an industrial zone near the Expocenter with buildings of a business complex that meets modern requirements for functionality, comfort and design.
Initially, state funding was provided, but the plans were not so grandiose - the buildings located in the center of the horseshoe around the park had to grow in height in a spiral - lower on the outside to provide an overview of the inside. The logical conclusion of the general idea was the tower "Russia" - a simple in form, but the highest in the complex structure.
The entire territory was conditionally divided into 20 sections, and the construction of each building was to be supervised by its architect, who invested in it his own idea of modern architecture.
Subsequently, investment in the construction of individual facilities was undertaken by various companies. Experts from all over the world were involved for their design, which significantly changed the architecture of the complex, and the scope of the project exceeded the wildest initial expectations in all respects.
Vostok Tower - part of the tallest building in Moscow
How many floors has the highest object of the center of Moscow City, many are interested. The Vostok Tower is part of a complex called the Federation Tower, which consists of two skyscrapers located on a single stepped basement. The spire, increasing the total height of the complex to more than five hundred meters, was also supposed to be a unifying detail, but its construction was illegal and the structure was dismantled. The second building is called "West". It has 63 floors and 242 meters, occupying 10th place in height throughout Moscow City.
The Vostok tower has 95 floors, rising 374 meters above the ground. This is not just the tallest building in the capital and the country, but throughout Europe. In terms of world parameters, this is not so much, given that the Buj Khalifa in Dubai rises by as much as 828 meters.
The initial plans were more ambitious - the Rossiya tower, whose construction was canceled, was supposed to reach 612 meters and become the tallest building in Moscow City. How many floors would be built, it’s impossible to find out exactly, but the base project included 118.
Authors of the project, exact address, functions
Federation Tower, which includes the tallest building in Moscow, is the joint brainchild of two architects - Sergei Choban, who works in Russia and Europe, and the German Peter Schweger.
The complex is located at: Presnenskaya embankment, house number 12.
It is occupied by residential premises, offices, trading floors. On the upper floors in the highest building of Moscow City are apartments, a restaurant, a swimming pool, a fitness center.
The buildings of the Federation Tower are decorated with modern material that reflects the sun's rays, which helps to avoid excessive heating of the structure. The complex is served by 62 high-speed elevators, and the total capacity of underground and ground parking is 6,000 spaces.
The price per square meter of office space reaches five hundred thousand rubles, and residential - more than a million.
Federation skyscrapers are in demand in the advertising and film industries, and photos of the tallest buildings in Moscow are the pride of many professionals and amateurs around the world.
The Vostok Tower attracts people who are eager for extreme entertainment and thrills, as well as tourists and residents of the capital who are willing to pay to admire the panorama of Moscow.
A visit to the observation deck on the 89th floor of the Vostok tower can cost adults from 500 rubles and more, depending on where you bought your ticket. Children under 7 years old will rise to review the capital for free, and those who are older will be offered a preferential price - about half the full cost.
Interesting facts about the Federation Tower
- For construction, a special unique brand of concrete was developed - B-90. Its composition is so durable that, if necessary, it can withstand a direct impact of the aircraft.
- Two world records were placed on the floors of the tallest building in Moscow City - the most distant electronic clock (Vostok skyscraper) and the pool (Zapad skyscraper).
- On the top floor of the Zapad tower there is the Sixty restaurant, famous for its panoramic views of the capital, the largest transactions concluded at its tables, signed documents of international level and distinguished guests, including A. G. Lukashenko, D. A. Medvedev, N.A. Nazarbayev.
- The restaurant is also famous for its hourly hydraulics. Visitors can see the city without glass and breathe clean air at a 200-meter height. All the action is accompanied by the inclusion of opera music.
- In the same institution there is another, but not so pleasant attraction - several double-glazed windows were installed with cracks on them. Repeated ordering, customs clearance, and transportation of damaged, even before installation, unique parts of the building made abroad were so expensive that, for all costs, it was decided to use the available ones.
- In 2009, the Discovery Channel made a film about the tallest skyscraper in Moscow.
- The towers are glazed with two-chamber double-glazed windows, the distance between which is 1 m 65 cm, which can also be considered a world record. The space inside is filled with an inert gas instead of the usual vacuum. Each glass is unique - has a greenish tint and a rounded shape - they create a streamlined shape of skyscrapers, devoid of visible edges.
- At a press conference in the Federation Tower, in order to convince guests of the strength of the glass, they threw a chair, armature and ... a Chinese man at it. Double-glazed windows passed all these tests.
- The supporting columns of the building are not located near the windows, but are shifted inland - due to this, a full panorama of the city opens.
Features of transport supply
For the delivery of goods and the arrival of people in Moscow City, there are several possibilities - on land, water, air. However, in some cases the advantages of a personal car can become a disadvantage - parking is paid, not at all cheap, and parking rules that are relevant in the city do not apply here. Office workers estimate the average monthly parking costs at 25 thousand rubles. It may be more convenient and economical for guests to leave the car outside the complex.
Public transport is fully represented - three metro stations with a transfer hub, many fixed-route taxis, multi-lane expressways suitable for MIBC.
On the territory of Moscow City there is a helipad. Specially for the maintenance of the complex, the TaxiHeli Helicopter Center purchased 20 new flying machines.
The tallest buildings in Moscow, built before the complex "Moscow City"
Undoubtedly, not only Federation Tower is amazing in its height and beauty. All the skyscrapers of the Moscow City Business Center look impressive. However, even before the construction of the complex, the capital had its own, albeit not so significant, high-altitude records.
- Until the 16th century, the 55-meter Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin was the tallest building in the capital. Now it is not the tallest, but the oldest surviving building.
- The bell tower of Ivan the Great on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin since 1505 towered 60 meters. Then she temporarily lost the championship, but was rebuilt a century later and again became the leader in height, already having 81-meter walls.
- St. Basil’s Cathedral, which took Ivan the Great from the bell tower in 1561 for a while as leader, rises 65 meters above the ground.
- The temple of the Archangel Gabriel , built in 1707, initially had a height of 84 meters, until the fire of 1723, which broke out due to lightning, did not deprive the building of the upper part.
- The Cathedral of Christ the Savior, founded in 1889 and rebuilt in 1994, is 103 meters high.
- Residential building on Kotelnicheskaya embankment (one of the "Stalin's skyscrapers") - 176 meters and 32 floors, of which 26 are residential, commissioned in 1952.
- Hotel Ukraine is now the five-star hotel Radisson Royal, Moscow. Also a "Stalinist skyscraper." Construction was completed in 1957. The height along with the spire (73 meters) is 206 meters.
- The main building of Moscow State University, built in 1953, together with the spire reaches 240 meters. Until the middle of the last century it was the tallest building in Europe.
- In 2006, the residential 45-story Triumph Palace was built. Its height is 264 meters.
This is the list of metropolitan skyscrapers today.