It is difficult to imagine beautiful St. Petersburg as a city of skyscrapers, but high-rise construction is rapidly breaking into the city of Petra. His first "swallow" will soon be the magnificent "Lakhta Center". In this case, the Leningrad Tower will not be an ordinary skyscraper, but the second tallest among similar Russian and European buildings, bypassing the Federation in Moscow City and second only to the Ostankino television tower. While the building is under construction, there is time to find out interesting details about it.
Project Overview
“Lakhta Center”, “Lakhta Center” (both spellings are correct) is a public-business complex that is currently under construction. Its magnitude is explained by the fact that the headquarters of the largest Russian corporation Gazprom will become the key object of the skyscraper. The location of the complex is the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg. The construction of the tower was started in 2012. Its full completion is planned in the III quarter of 2018.
The maximum planned height of the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg with an antenna / spire is 462 m. The upper level of the very last floor will be located 372 m above the ground. The mass of the building with filling will be 670 thousand tons. The complex will include not only a tower, but also a multi-purpose building that will divide the atrium into the northern and southern parts. The total area of the future structure will be 400 thousand m 2 . How many floors are there in the tower of Gazprom in St. Petersburg? The final amount will be 87. 102 elevators will serve the building.
Tower construction progress
Let's touch on the key stages of the construction of the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg:
- 2013 - a foundation pit was dug for the building.
- 2014 - completion of the construction of the pit, the beginning of driving piles.
- 2015 - the completion of the so-called zero construction cycle : the manufacture of a box foundation, reinforcement and concreting of negative floors.
- 2015-2016 - the construction of the first 50 floors of a skyscraper and 7 floors of the MPF.
- February 2017 - the 60th floor (260 m) was built.
- April 2017 - construction of the 67th floor (300 m).
- May 10, 2017 - reaching a mark of 327.6 m and 78 floors, the skyscraper became the tallest building in the northern capital, "overtaking" the television tower. The latter held this title for 55 years.
The concept of the Lakhta Center project
According to the project team, this tower aimed at the sky, like a rocket at the start, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, will form the new standards of the city’s life with its appearance and content:
- developed social infrastructure;
- modern offices that meet all world environmental requirements;
- comfortable public spaces;
- the abundance of green spaces;
- pedestrian and transport accessibility.
The main task of the so-called Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg is to rid the historical center of business and business activity, and at the same time the dominance of transport, shifting the focus of this activity to the outskirts of the city. The skyscraper will not only help the second capital switch to a polycentric development model, but also attract significant investments, create new high-paying jobs, and create all the conditions for business development.
Architectural solutions
St. Petersburg is a city of horizontals, not skyscrapers. All its historical high-rise buildings - the Admiralty Needle, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Peter and Paul Cathedral - these are the central points around which independent and integral architectural ensembles lined up . Therefore, in order not to spoil the look of the museum city, it was decided to erect a skyscraper that accommodates the headquarters of the state concern Gazprom, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, far from historical buildings.
The tower is designed to begin to form the "marine facade" of St. Petersburg. Its appearance does not conflict with the "face" of the city - the same theme of a lone spire on the horizon, the desire to go up, the contours of buildings resembling the outlines of the hull of ships.
The Lakhta Center form, according to the architects, should visualize openness, lightness, freedom, flow of spaces and the energy of the sea. The complex seeks to give the effect of weightlessness and organic unity with the surrounding city and nature. A special kind of double-glazed windows will help in this, which will allow the building to change its color depending on the mood of the sky.
What will be inside the complex
The popular name of the Lakhta Center, the tower of Gazprom, is not entirely true. The project of the "filling" of the complex is striking in its multifunctionality:
- Only 43% of the total area is planned for office space.
- 2.5 thousand m 2 will be occupied by a medical center.
- 7 thousand m 2 will be guaranteed to be provided to the Children's World Scientific and Educational Center, which will include lectures, laboratories, and an exploratory workshop.
- It is planned to open a planetarium in the building, in which 140 people will be able to simultaneously observe celestial bodies.
- It is planned to build a transforming multifunctional auditorium, designed for almost 500 people.
- 74-76 floors (330 m) are planned for a two-story panoramic restaurant.
- At an altitude of 357 m above the ground, on the 83-86 floor there will be an observation deck equipped with powerful telescopes.
- 1.5 thousand square meters will be allocated to the exhibition hall for the exhibition hall.
- It is also planned to build an impressive amphitheater with 2000 seats. On its stage with an area of almost 1.5 thousand square meters, various water shows will be held.
- A part of the complex will also be a covered pedestrian bridge that will connect the Lakhta Center space with the 300th anniversary park of the city.
Other characteristics
Let's get acquainted with the interesting technical and design features of the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg:
- The skyscraper stands on 264 piles, each of which has a diameter of 2 m and a depth of 82 m.
- Reinforced concrete core is responsible for the stability of the tower.
- The horizontal rigidity of the skyscraper is achieved due to outrigger floors - there will be 4 pairs in total. Outriggers will maintain the stability of the tower, even if it loses 30% of its supporting structures.
- The technology of cold-formed glass is responsible for the innovative three-dimensional curvature of the facades of the complex.
- The backlight of the Lakhta Center is light pixels. Their color will depend on the season of the year.
- The waste will be recycled by an innovative vacuum system for garbage removal.
- Near the complex it is planned to open a metro station under the working name "Lakhta".
Interesting Facts
Finally, let's look at the entertaining facts related to the St. Petersburg tower:
- Concreting the bottom slab of the skyscraper foundation was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most voluminous continuous pouring of concrete in the world. It lasted 49 hours, during which 19 624 cubic meters of concrete were poured.
- 400 thousand cubic meters of concrete will be spent on the construction of the entire complex.
- The glass surface area of the tower will be equal to 77 thousand m 2 . The weight of each double-glazed window is more than 700 kg.
- In July 2016, the skyscraper became the tallest building in St. Petersburg. He was able to achieve this title in just 10 months.
- In August of that year, the Lakhta Center became the northernmost skyscraper in the world.
Surprisingly, the tallest skyscraper in Russia will be located in St. Petersburg, the city of horizontal lines. In addition to its height, the Lakhta Center project amazes with its multifunctionality, a well-thought-out concept and organic architecture.