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"Lakhta Center": "As future residents of Lakhta, we are the first to need a comfortable environment." How a lakhta center is being built in St. Petersburg Lakhta center is the most

A high-rise business center under construction in St. Petersburg is often called the Gazprom tower. This building will be the tallest in the Northern capital and the second largest in Europe after the Ostankino tower. The skyscraper is being built by Gazprom and will house the headquarters of this concern and its company.

Recall that initially the construction of a business center with a height of 400 meters was planned to be carried out on an area of ​​4.7 hectares, in the center of the Northern capital, which caused a sharp protest from city defenders and the public. The object fell into the protected zone, where the monuments included in the list of UNESCO sites are located.

Soon the governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, canceled the decree allowing the developer to deviate from the allowed height of 100 meters in this place.

The new 14-hectare site for the construction of the Lakhta Tower is located in the north of St. Petersburg at the outskirts of the city between the Gulf of Finland and Primorskoye Highway. The distance from the construction site to the city center is about 10 km. According to experts, now the Lakhta Tower, although it will be visible from almost all parts of the city, but it will not cover the sights of St. Petersburg and dominate the historical sites.

At the same time, the tower will be perfectly visible from the sea, it will become a kind of lighthouse that meets those arriving in the city by sea. It will be an iconic object of the northern capital's sea façade.

Unlike the old project, in the Lakhta Center, in addition to the office part, there will be premises for social infrastructure.

The office part will occupy premises in the tower itself, and the buildings at its base will be allocated for social facilities - shops, sports and medical centers, a children's educational center and a planetarium.

An observation deck, revolving restaurant and conference room will be located at the top of the tower.

Lakhta Center tower - short description

The customer and investor of the project is Gazprom Neft, the construction project was carried out by the British architectural bureau RMJM - Robert Matthew Johnson Marshal.

The general contractor is the Turkish company Renaissance Construction (established in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, founded by Turkish businessmen). Dozens of institutes and construction organizations are involved in the construction of the building.

The height of the building with the spire will be 462 meters, and the total weight of the tower with all the infrastructure, glazing and even furniture and people will be 670 thousand tons.

The area of ​​one office floor is from 668 to 2060 sq. meters.

From the side of the Gulf of Finland, the Lakhta Center tower will appear in all its splendor in the form of a spire directed upward. It can also be compared to a drop of water flying upwards.

Peter the Great conceived Petersburg as the sea capital of Russia. And according to the idea of ​​the authors of the project, from afar, from the sea, the Lakhta Center will look like a snow-white yacht.

The project provides several architectural highlights, the main of which are a modern planetarium and an outdoor amphitheater.

Planetarium

The planetarium, designed for 140 people, will take an unusual place - at the height of the fifth floor of one of the buildings adjacent to the tower. It will look like a huge ball that was thrown into a building from its full swing, and it stuck to the facade. Of course, such a spectacular shape of the building cannot fail to interest everyone who passes or drives by.

During the sessions, a variety of special effects will be used - a moving floor and illusions of lightning and rain, virtual smoke and smells.

Amphitheater

The idea of ​​creating an open amphitheater facing the sea is associated with the need for a smooth transition from the high roof to the water space. Here, viewers will be able to admire water fountains and various water shows, as well as participate in theatrical performances and competitions.

  • When laying the foundation, many principles were taken from nature. So, the piles at the base of the building, like the roots of a giant tree, go 82 meters into the ground. Above the piles, a "box-shaped" foundation with a height of 17 meters was built, which guarantees the stability of the building
  • The maximum permissible deviation of the structure from the vertical along the entire height is no more than 6 millimeters. Not to be confused with the amplitude of the building during stormy winds
  • Double-glazed windows have passed a variety of tests: under high pressure of water, air currents and fire. The glasses are made using a special film that will prevent the glass from shattering into fragments
  • All materials used in construction are non-flammable or flame retardant. But despite this, the evacuation of people is thought out as much as possible. In the event of a fire alarm, air is injected into the central core made of reinforced concrete, which prevents smoke from forming. Moving to the central core, where there are stairs, the person is safe.
  • A special system will be used to clean the windows, which moves along rails arranged on the ribs of the tower.
  • In strong winds, the top of the structure may deviate by 46 cm from the vertical, and at the level of the observation deck (at a height of 357 meters) the maximum deviation will be 27 cm
  • To prevent birds from crashing into the windows, the double-glazed windows are edged with an opaque material, and the glass itself is non-mirrored. In addition, during mass flights of flocks, the illumination will be "frightening". This way the birds will see the glass.

Adjacent territory

On the east side of the building there will be an entrance for the office staff. This part of the complex will appear as an arch with a span of 100 meters.

A pedestrian zone with a length of 8 km will begin from the southeast side. It will include a bridge and a huge space for mass celebrations and celebrations.

The northern part of the territory will be used for various exhibitions, and in the future, a railway platform and a metro station will be built here.

In addition, next to the tower there will be a parking lot for tourist buses and a museum of the ship "Poltava".

Transport infrastructure

In the future, it is planned to arrange a transfer between Lakhta Center and the metro stations "Chernaya Rechka" and "Staraya Derevnya". In 2025, it is planned to build a metro station.

The development of transport infrastructure is promoted primarily by the World Cup. In 2018, the Begovaya metro station will be opened, one of the exits of which is located just over a kilometer from the Lakhta center, that is, within walking distance.

The Lakhta Center Tower will become the center of a new business district of St. Petersburg, one might say the Petersburg City, and the development of transport infrastructure will turn this not-equipped district of the Northern Capital into an example of a modern and high-quality urban environment. Let us remind you that the commissioning of the object is planned in 2018.

In mid-October 2018, the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex, the construction of which began back in 2012, received a permit for commissioning. The opening of the first phase of the complex, which is dominated by the tallest skyscraper in Europe, is scheduled for the end of next year, and for many months more work will be carried out at the new headquarters of Gazprom on the interior decoration, equipment and improvement of the vast territory. However, already last summer, during the broadcasts of the 2018 World Cup matches, the world was able to see a new vertical dominant that forms the panorama of modern St. Petersburg.

The silhouette of the 462-meter tower, the compositional center and the main accent of the complex, is the embodied energy of the flame, the symbol and the Gazprom logo. The five wings of the tower rotate by floor by 0.82 degrees relative to their centers, or about 90 degrees along their entire height. As they ascend, they decrease in size, thereby creating a silhouette of the spire, the proportions and shape of which make it possible to perceive it as another urban spire, stylistically not competing with the existing dominants of the historical center.

Philip Nikandrov. Photo of the press service "Gorproekt"

The shape of the tower is based on the architectural principles laid down by the builders of the ancient pyramids: the entire mass of the building is visually directed upward, concentrating at the point of the summit. Almost all the historical vertical dominants of St. Petersburg - spiers and domes - are built on this principle. The silhouette solution of the skyscraper is just a transitional form from the dome to the spire, with a gradual increase in the radius of curvature from the arc at the bottom to the straight line at the top. The rich plastic of the tower facades through the organic composition of volumes gives the object dynamism, symbolizing energy and development.

The architectural and technical solutions of Lakhta Center, on which the team of architects, designers and engineers of the Gorproekt company (the general designer of the complex) has been working since 2011, are innovative in many aspects not only for Russia, but for the whole world. The project, in which there is not a single repeating (typical) floor, is technically considered one of the most complex and unique even in comparison with other mega-skyscrapers on the planet; the leaders of the world construction industry, leading contracting companies and manufacturers from Europe and Asia took part in its implementation. The solution of the most complex design problems became possible only thanks to the use of the latest BIM technologies and parametric design.

The façade solutions of the complex are especially unique. Firstly, a record amount of glass was used in it: the area of ​​glazed shells is about 130 thousand square meters. m, of which on the tower - 72.5 thousand sq. m (this is 16.5 thousand double-glazed windows). In total, more than half a million square meters of glass were used in production, and the glass was used not only as a translucent shell of hinged stained-glass windows, but also as a supporting structural material: all-glass impost racks (more than 17 m without a single seam) provide a maximum visual lightness and transparency of planar stained-glass windows at the level of public spaces of the atrium.

Secondly, for the translucent shells, the latest synthetic materials were used, for example, ETFE film, from which the pneumatic elements ("cushions") of the skylight of the central atrium of the stylobate part of the complex are made. This decision made it possible to significantly reduce the weight of the construction of a huge canopy over 250 m long, while avoiding the risk of icing in the winter. On the facades of stylobate buildings, energy-saving double-strand glazing was used, which ventilates the buffer zones in a passive mode. On the tower itself, an intelligent two-line façade was implemented, which allows (already in active mode) to automatically ventilate the buffer zones between the two lines of the energy consumption for heating with closed ventilation valves.

The curved in three dimensions stained glass window of the outer thread is assembled from huge double-glazed windows with an area of ​​11 sq. m each. All 15 facets-petals of the facade look like a single shell of glass, curved in a spiral with a rotation of 90 degrees to the full height. Each double-glazed window is bent at an angle of 0.82 degrees in the cold state (without the use of molds and traditional heating in an oven up to 600 degrees), which saved a huge amount of energy during production. Today this stained-glass window is the largest cold-formed facade in the world in terms of area; it has broken the record for our other project - in Moscow-City.

The Lakhta Center tower, however, is not only the tallest in Europe, but also the northernmost mega-skyscraper in the world. For several months a year, the 100-meter spire will hide in low clouds, that is, in an area of ​​increased risk of condensation on the surfaces of its facades. Anti-icing measures are extremely important here, and the task is complicated by the fact that no one has built such tall buildings in such a latitude and in such a humid climate.

Lakhta Center. Photo of the press service "Gorproekt"


In winter, condensation will freeze on the surfaces of the spire in the form of ice, which can threaten the falling of fragments or whole icicles, so we have developed a unique anti-icing system for the spire, which is designed to combat ice accumulations on large metal surfaces. The glass in the spire of the tower has been replaced by a stainless steel cladding with a heating system in the cold season, and a steel mesh to control the formation of dangerous ice and icicles on the shell of the upper part of the skyscraper.

A unique facade maintenance system, for washing and repairing stained-glass windows or replacing double-glazed windows, a rail moving along a spiral path parallel to the facade shell. There, in these rails, active dynamic architectural lighting and anti-icing systems are integrated. Special sensors will monitor when it will be necessary to turn on local heating in places where ice may appear. Flashing aviation obstruction lights at the top of the spire operate 24 hours a day and are visible to pilots of aircraft and ships for many tens of kilometers.

Based on the totality of innovative energy-efficient solutions applied in the project, the facility claims to be a "gold" LEED certificate, which makes it a national leader in terms of energy conservation and respect for the environment - after all, we are talking about the headquarters of the largest energy company.

Of course, Lakhta Center is not only a tower, it is a huge complex with an area of ​​400 thousand square meters. m, of which the tower occupies only a third. The area of ​​the first phase site is 8 hectares, large landscaped spaces will appear on them: three public squares, an open amphitheater with a stage against the backdrop of the bay, a museum of entertaining science with a planetarium, and a multi-functional concert hall. The tower is completed by a public observation deck in the lower space of the spire, an unconditional center of attraction for tourists.

"Lakhta Center" is the urban planning flagship of the agglomeration practically in the center of the lagoon ring of the Gulf of Finland, surrounded by the ring highway (KAD) - it is in its orbit that "Greater St. Petersburg" will develop in the XXI century. And the tower on the shore of the bay, in the geometric center of this orbit, like a grandiose lighthouse, forms the sea façade of the metropolis directly opposite the passenger port, which simultaneously receives 5-7 cruise liners during the summer tourist season. And all of them are met and seen off by the "Lakhta Center", the symbol of modern St. Petersburg.

Architect Philip Nikandrov tells how Gazprom's Okhta Center in St. Petersburg turned into Lakhta Center, and explains why an architect should be more important than developers and officials

Chief Architect of Gorproekt Philip Nikandrov / Evgeny Egorov / Vedomosti

Philip Nikandrov designed skyscrapers for St. Petersburg and Moscow that have every chance of becoming new city symbols - the Lakhta Center towers on the shores of the Gulf of Finland and Evolution in Moscow City. The architect worked for 15 years in the international bureau RMJM, in offices in the UK and the Middle East, from where he returned to Russia in 2004. He began designing high-rise buildings in the 2000s, working in Dubai. At home, he led the design of two skyscrapers according to his concepts, which won international architectural competitions - the Evolution tower in Moscow City in 2005 and the Gazprom complex in St. Petersburg in 2006.

The Lakhta Center tower in St. Petersburg, where Gazprom's structures will move, will be commissioned in autumn 2018. It will become the tallest building in Europe (462 m).

- The construction of the Lakhta Center is being completed. But at one time the decision to build a tower for Gazprom in St. Petersburg caused a scandal. Tell us about the history of the project and why did you move from Okhta to Lakhta?

- This story began on a plot of about 5 hectares in the place where the Okhta flows into the Neva. On the site of Petrozavod, demolished in 2008, there was once the Okhta shipyard, in the 16th – 17th centuries. here was the Swedish fortress Nyenskans, and before that, back in the 13th century, the Swedish fortress Landskrona. In fact, the history of St. Petersburg began with the fact that in 1703 Peter I took Nyenskans by a siege, and three weeks later he founded a new city downstream of the Neva, starting to build a fortress on Hare Island. The old earthen fortification of Nyenskans was subsequently destroyed. When in 2006 " Gazprom»Announced a closed international competition for the construction of the headquarters on this site, I collaborated with the British company RMJM, which got into the short list, made up of continuous Pritzker laureates. We managed to present an interesting concept, which was liked by the customers and the majority of the jury, at the same time winning the open Internet voting and voting at the exhibition of competitive projects.

The concept not only embodied the historical genetic code of the site in its forms - we proposed museumification of Nyenskans and Landskrona by tracing its outlines in the paving and in numerous atrium spaces of the complex, which also included an archaeological museum for artifacts found during excavations carried out with Gazprom's money. True, archaeologists, having received their reward, declared the entire site "St. Petersburg Troy" and demanded a ban on construction, having no scientific plans to conserve the site or recreate an earthen fortress, except, of course, a clean remake - to build one that was dug in the 17th century. fortification from scratch anew, and then declare it a monument. Having passed the approval of Glavgosexpertiza in 2010, the project was closed, and the St. Petersburg authorities immediately declared the entire site a monument and prohibited any construction on it.

But the project on Okhta was closed mainly not even in connection with the protests of UNESCO about the very fact of high-rise construction in the so-called buffer zone near the historical center, but because of the illegitimacy of the city high-rise regulations, when gross violations were discovered when it was adopted as part of the PZZ [ rules of land use and development] of St. Petersburg. In 2010, the Supreme Court overturned it. At that time, about 120 projects located in the territories of the industrial belt around the historical center, which UNESCO considered a buffer zone, were actually suspended (there is still no such status in defining the boundaries of the historical center of St. Petersburg as a World Heritage Site). But this whole story developed against the background of an emerging pre-election political protest, in which the construction of a tower for opposition movements in St. cultural space of the city ”(they came up with such a thing!). Built in the 1960s. Nobody seemed to notice the 300-meter TV tower against the background of the spire of Peter and Paul and three dozen smoking industrial chimneys that exceed the mark of the top of the dome of Isaac. That is, all this was not so much about architecture as about politics, this landmark project smelled too much of power.

Philip Nikandrov

Chief Architect of "Gorproekt"

Was born in 1968 in Leningrad. Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute. In 1994 he joined the Union of Architects of Russia

Works in "Lengiprogor": Workshop No. 3, participation in projects for Severodvinsk

Moved to the Personal Creative Architectural Workshop (PTAM) of Yu.K. Mityurev

He became the chief architect in the offices of the UK, the Middle East and Russia of the international architectural company RMJM Scotland Ltd. (since 2011 - director and co-director of the European studio RMJM). In 1999 he received a professional license to carry out independent architectural activities

Appointed chief architect of ZAO Gorproekt

Initially, the idea was not received with hostility, in 2006 an architectural competition was held, there was an open exhibition of all concepts, there was a controversy, but already in 2007, serious money flowed into a protest campaign to discredit the project on Okhta. Who financed this, I do not know for sure, but it was about the move from the capital of the country's largest taxpayer, the amount of tax deductions from which was comparable to the total annual budget of St. Petersburg, and too many influential forces were interested, if not to stop, then at least to slow down this move from one region to another.

- You yourself did not perceive that project as a threat to the historical image of St. Petersburg?

- Not. It would certainly embarrass me if it were built, say, opposite Palace Square or the Peter and Paul Fortress, similar to the 300-meter London tower The Shard, standing across the Thames directly opposite the Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our site was far beyond the boundaries of historical urban ensembles. We then built a 3D model of the city, carried out our own landscape-visual analysis, looking at all the points from which streets the tower would be visible, and found only 5-6 streets on the axis of which the new dominant sat, and all these streets were outside the so-called golden triangle. Five kilometers from Palace Square is quite a decent distance.

But Gazprom eventually made a strategically correct decision - to move the construction site from the disputed territory and away from the historical center. Since 2011, the project has been developing in Lakhta, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, on an alluvial area, 5 km from the border of the historical center. RMJM could not survive the international economic crisis and work with it did not go beyond the concept. So, together with the Lakhta Center project, I moved to work as the chief architect at Gorproekt, which won a tender for the general design of the facility in 2011. Since then, the project has been completely and repeatedly redesigned, only the idea of ​​the silhouette of a tower-spire, symbolizing the flame that Gazprom brings to people, has remained from the previous concept. But now it is 462 m, it will be the tallest skyscraper not only in Russia, but also in Europe for many years to come.

Now "Lakhta Center" as a new social and business cluster is the flagship of the agglomeration practically in the center of the lagoon ring of the Gulf of Finland, surrounded by a ring highway, in the orbit of which Greater St. Petersburg will develop in the 21st century. And the tower on the shore of the bay, as a new city-wide dominant, forms the sea façade of the city directly opposite the new passenger port, which receives 5-7 cruise liners at the same time during the summer tourist season, which is more tourists than arriving daily through Pulkovo airport.

- And what happened before at this place?

- There was a sand base - they stored sand for construction projects.

- So the tower stands on the sand?

- No, it stands on 264 piles with a diameter of 2 m to 82 m deep, they pass the first 30 m of soft soils and run into hard clay. The foundation slab was continuously poured for more than two days (Guinness Book Record).

The area of ​​the site of the first phase is 8 hectares, there will be large landscaped spaces: three public squares, an open amphitheater with a stage against the backdrop of the bay, a museum of entertaining science with a planetarium, and a concert hall. The tower is completed not by the office of the head of the company, but by an accessible observation deck, an unconditional center of attraction for tourists. The facility is also certified for the LEED gold standard, making it a nationwide flagship in terms of energy conservation and respect for the environment, yet it is the headquarters of the largest energy company, growing in step with progress.

- What is the ratio of the areas that Gazprom will occupy and the public areas?

- Less than 45% of all areas are allocated for office functions, the rest are public spaces and functions, including recreation. Gazprom has another 7 hectare site nearby, where the second phase will be built, where there will be more office space.

- Does Gazprom pay for everything?

- Investor of the first phase - " Gazprom Neft”, This company was originally the developer and developer of the project through its subsidiary structure. But in the end, all major brands of the Gazprom group of companies will settle in the complex. Now they occupy comparable areas in St. Petersburg in different business centers and pay rent. In the long term, owning a building is a clear savings for them.

- Do you suppose that the fate of the Eiffel Tower, not Montparnasse, awaits Lakhta? (The 210-meter-high Montparnasse Tower, the only skyscraper in the historic center of Paris, has become the object of criticism. Two years after its construction, the construction of high-rise buildings in this area was prohibited.)

- I really hope so, but history will judge. However, any architect is convinced that he is right. Although, I think, the creator of the Montparnasse tower was also proud of it. We - architects, designers - live and work in difficult times in the context of the ideology of universal consumerism, which forces many of our colleagues to mortify their own buildings, following the path of momentary architectural fashion, constantly inventing new styles and thereby devaluing the value of the previous ones. This makes life difficult for investors, especially when it comes to high-rise buildings. The construction period increases in direct proportion with height. And it may turn out that by investing an ultra-fashionable concept at the time of the start of the project, you will receive an object that is morally obsolete by the time the construction is completed. That is why so many pseudo-classical buildings are being built in Russia (which is considered bad taste in Europe) - in this way customers are trying to save investments and cheat time. But they only deceive themselves, all these "pseudo" and "quasi" will never become classics, but will forever remain in the category of pathetic parodies. The style of the facades and forms of "Lakhta Center" is timeless, it is not tied to any architectural fashion.

- Is the tower made of reinforced concrete?

- Reinforced concrete core in the center and reinforced steel columns along the periphery, between them steel beams and reinforced concrete floors on steel corrugated board - this is the most popular type of construct for mega-skyscrapers now, it is called composite. By 2020, when the tower is fully populated, it will no longer be included in the list of the 20 tallest towers in the world. But we live in the context of Europe, and there were no tasks to set high-altitude records. The task was initially to find harmony with the place in the urban planning context of St. Petersburg.

- How was it built?

- Many of the advanced construction technologies used have already been tested earlier at other facilities, but on a more modest scale. For example, the facades are unique: this is the world's largest cold-formed facade (after the Evolution tower): the glass is curved and strictly follows the spiral geometry of the shape, as if it flows continuously. In addition, an intelligent ventilated facade is used here: in summer it will prevent the heating of the premises with open ventilation valves, and in winter - accumulate solar energy due to the greenhouse effect, reducing energy consumption for heating with closed ventilation valves. The facade maintenance system is also unique: special rails are laid along the shape of the building, along which beams with a cradle for washing or replacing double-glazed windows will move. Architectural lighting and anti-icing systems are integrated into the same rails. Anti-icing measures are critical here - no one has built such tall buildings in such a northern latitude and in such a humid climate. Special sensors will monitor when it will be necessary to turn on local heating in places where icicles can appear in the cold season.

The city certainly needs such objects, they position it much further than its usual niche city-museum or Venice of the North. Petersburg, like Venice, is a flat city. But the height of terraced buildings outside the historic center has grown several times, but the height of the dominants has not, now the average height of historical architectural landmarks in the center is 50-60 m, like an average residential building on the outskirts. And this new scale dictates the scale of new high-altitude dominants. But until recently, such dominants were not built in the city.

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Turned out to be the highest

Skyscrapers and high-rise construction in general is a trend associated with the growth of the density of our cities and megalopolises, as, indeed, all the phenomena of our life. The tendency is positive if professionals are employed in urban planning, as well as in the design and construction of skyscrapers, and it is a frightening phenomenon if amateurs are engaged in this, and this also happens.

- Do you think that the increase in building density is progressive?

- An increase in building density is progressive and inevitable. Progressively, since in general on the planet, with an increase in density, living becomes more and more compact and, thus, significant territories remain or are freed from development, which remain on the balance of natural ecosystems. Inevitable, because as the world's population grows, the overall trend to save resources, including energy and all types of infrastructure, increases.

- Now there is a lot of talk about the need to build garden cities, but they continue to build anthill cities. What must happen to society for progressive urban trends to prevail?

- I can't answer in a nutshell. Russia is now in captivity of several trends at the same time - an industrial society still prevails, but in megalopolises, where traditional production is being replaced by an innovative and service economy, elements of a post-industrial social order are already visible. For example, Skolkovo can be viewed as a prototype or, rather, a showroom for such a garden city. Although it is being created in some isolation from the real economy of the country and has signs of Potemkin villages, this is the fate of many pilot projects.

In Russia, the mass housing construction of the industrialization era, which began in the Khrushchev era, still prevails. Until now, millions of adult children live with their parents, millions of divorced spouses continue to share living space, not to mention the millions of people living in communal apartments and dilapidated houses. New buildings are still competing for buyers' wallets with the same Khrushchevs and Brezhnevs: such a poor competitive background does not promise us a special quality of economy-class houses under construction and an improvement in the urban development environment. In Western countries, on the contrary, there is an overproduction of housing, so there is no such scale of mass housing construction, they build much less there, which means that the competition is much higher and the quality is better. This also applies to social housing, which is also being built, but under government orders and not as massively as in our country, which makes it possible to use individual projects for each specific site and even involve well-known architects in these projects.

Only serious competition in the field of housing construction can revive the institution of real architectural competitions and return the quality of architecture to new construction. As for the already built "anthills", then, unfortunately, we have to live with it, and for a very long time.

But we must understand that progressive urban trends do not promise a decrease in the building density in our cities, it will continue to grow with the growth of urbanization. That will continue until at least the middle of this century, when, according to forecasts, 70% of the world's population will live in cities. But these may be completely different cities.

- Polycentric or monocentric development, agglomeration or conurbation - which path should Moscow and St. Petersburg choose?

- The master plans and design plans of both megalopolises, as well as all Russian urban planning as a science, are still based on the fundamental principles of urban planning of an industrial society since the industrial revolutions of the 19th century. This means: at a distance from downtown, industrial zones were being built, and sleeping residential quarters were located nearby, stadiums, parks for recreation of townspeople were built separately, etc. However, if we get rid of such functional zoning and zoning of cities according to the old schemes of centric development and the life of a post-industrial society, creating a mixed development in which housing, retail, offices, schools, universities, cultural and sports facilities will harmoniously coexist along landscaped and green streets and squares, then further growth of the density of cities due to the increase in the number of storeys of buildings will be able to be carried out without destroying such harmony, but, on the contrary, reducing the need for daily migration. The fact that now the majority of the population lives in one area, works in another, and goes to shopping or to rest in a third, only gives rise to a traffic collapse. The answer to this challenge is the polycentric development of our cities.

- It has already become a commonplace that developers scold architects for being “too beautiful”, and architects of developers for simplifying projects at the expense of quality. Can these parties agree? And How?

- This is an eternal dispute and struggle for a share in the budget. The developer will strive, if not to cut, then to optimize as much as possible the budget allocated for architectural expressiveness, quality of details and landscaping. On the other hand, an architect will (and must by definition) fight to increase the budget for aesthetics and quality. But you can agree. If, for example, we accept the principle of minimalism in the highest sense in which it was formulated by [German architect Ludwig] Mies van der Rohe: "Less is more." But it is not a developer or an official who should measure "more or less" here, but an architect.

- Do you agree that making a good project of a cheap but high-quality house is a professional challenge for an architect? Do you have such projects?

- I absolutely agree, this is, in principle, the highest exam. Of course, it is a great luck for any architect to get an unlimited budget for the implementation of his architectural dreams and fantasies, but, in my opinion, building beautifully in a small budget is a much more honorable merit and a higher mission worthy of applause.

Recently we received such an order - a project of a typical residential building for leasing. The result should be a concept for a rental home that will be centrally owned and operated by a single homeowner. For this business to be successful in the marketplace, the new homeowner must offer not only affordable prices, but also extremely attractive quality and aesthetics to potential tenants. This is the task and the professional challenge you are asking about.

- At the recent forum on high-rise construction in Yekaterinburg, you painted a picture of the ideal city of the future. What should it be?

- So that most of its residents feel comfortable living in it, not dreaming of moving to another city. So that people born in it would like to live life in it. We are talking about an ecologically and socially safe urbanized urban space that is in harmony with the environment and provides - due to its layout and functional configuration - convenient and simple access of citizens to the main elements of a complex social infrastructure, including employment, education, healthcare, culture, trade. , recreation and sports. As for transport, its structure is already changing with the process of "uberization" and with the advent of unmanned vehicles and drones, and the goal for a man of the future, in my opinion, is to move less around the city in a car and walk more and / or use bicycles and hoverboards. ... The pattern of daily migrations within the city has already begun to change, online shopping and couriers have begun to slowly but surely kill traditional trade; in developed countries, street retail, malls and hypermarkets with huge parking lots are slowly dying out as a class. But people must remain mobile enough to travel between cities or travel the world. I think that virtual reality will reduce the share of business travel and business travel, people will travel to visit relatives or to see the world. And if tourists en masse strive to a city, then it means that it is already in some way, of course, successful and thereby won its place in the present and future.

"Lakhta Center" - A public and business complex under construction in Lakhta, the historical part of the Primorsky District of St. Petersburg, the key object of which will be the headquarters of the state concern Gazprom.

The complex includes a skyscraper and a multifunctional building, divided by an atrium into the South and North blocks. The total area of ​​the premises is 400 thousand square meters.The project is planned to be fully completed in the 3rd quarter of 2018.

The skyscraper became the northernmost in the world and the tallest in Russia and Europe, 88 meters higher than the Federation Tower Moscow skyscraper, although in terms of number of storeys it is inferior to it and the 100-storey Grozny skyscraper "Akhmat Tower" under construction. If we take the absolute height, then the Lakhta Center ranks second among the tallest structures in Russia and Europe, yielding only to the 540-meter Ostankino TV tower. Building height is 462 meters with 87 floors, moreover, 118 meters falls on a spire made of metal structures weighing more than 2000 tons.

The architectural design of the completed Phase 1 complex, including the tower, was developed by the team of authors of ZAO Gorproekt under the leadership of the chief architect of the project, Philip Nikandrov, who was the co-author and chief architect of the Okhta Center project (2006-2010). The interior design of the complex is being developed by the European bureau Exclusiva Design Srl, which in 2014 won an open competition for the design of the interiors of the public areas of the MFC.

According to the concept, the interior of the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex will be made in a futuristic style. The glazing of the tower will be smooth, without joints and edges. Thanks to this, an original optical effect will be achieved in the form of reflective clouds rising along the wall of the building. Double-glazed windows are parallelograms and triangles (in the corners). There are no windows in the glazing as the building is equipped with a climate control system. Two buildings, located on the sides of the high-rise dominant, will be built with a height difference of 22 to 85 meters.

The highest point of the southern building will be farther from the tower, and in the northern one, on the contrary, it will be directed towards the tower and the city. In March 2017, the first three elevators of the next forty were launched. There will be transfer hubs between the elevators from the lower zone to the middle zone, and from the middle zone to the upper zone. A shuttle is also planned, which will take passengers directly to the observation deck.

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Historical environment in Lakhta? Do you know our city well? The city center is far away, the question is simply not relevant now.

- Local city defenders continue to insist that the tower will become a dominant feature, that something will be closed. It is, according to the project, 462 meters high.

In fact, the tower is 462.7 meters high. How to understand the statement of city defenders that the tower will cover something? Block the view of the Primorskoe highway? Residential development? Does it bother you? It will be visible against the background of other objects - I agree, but it will definitely not cover or dominate significant historical objects. If the house is beautiful, why strive to ensure that no one sees it? Our project is very beautiful, the time will come, everyone will be proud of it.

I saw one photo toad. The picture showed our tower against the background of the Bronze Horseman and the caption: "You see, what a perspective, everything is ruined there, it is impossible to take a picture." I don’t know ... I myself have photographed many times next to the Bronze Horseman, but I have never photographed the statue from the side of the tail. Why do people care?

- What is the most important difference between the Lakhta Center project and the infamous Okhta Center?

These are fundamentally different projects. On Okhta, a simple business center was designed - a tower with office premises. In fact, it turned out to be a closed space, a thing in itself. The employee would go there, work, get everything he needs, and at the end of the working day he would go home.

The rest of the townspeople could get to the Okhta Center to visit the observation deck or sit in the revolving restaurant on the 74th floor.

It was not intended to create social infrastructure in Okhta Center, while Lakhta Center provides for a very large amount of additional functions, which, in terms of area ratio, will dominate over the office component.

The main volume of offices in Lakhta Center is located in the tower, and under it the whole city will be spread out for residents of nearby districts and tourists. The community component of the project includes a sports and medical center, shops, conference rooms, an entertaining science center for children and a planetarium.

- How did the idea of ​​the planetarium come about?

Architects always strive to offer some kind of feature, zest. We have several of them on the project. The idea of ​​a planetarium was not born immediately. We had a multi-colored space, and we all thought about how to use it in the best possible way. We worked on this issue for a month and a half, and then again! And the planetarium was born! A huge ball, which seemed to be thrown into the building from its full swing, and it stuck to the facade. Very impressive. It will be visible both from the street and from passing cars, it will become another reason for people to come to us.

- Has the tower itself become larger than the Okhta Center project?

The tower became taller, larger in diameter, changed in shape, in its structure. This is a completely new project. Outwardly, there are some similarities, it seems, yes, one and the same tower, but in fact the towers are completely different.

- Are there any structural differences?

The basic structural scheme remained unchanged, we were only able to optimize and reduce the number of technical floors, we were able to abandon some of the columns, and simplified the beam system. And in the Lakhta project, the decisions on the organization of construction have changed significantly, new technologies have been applied. Currently, we have successfully completed the arrangement of the pile foundation of the tower and the multifunctional building. In Lakhta, bored piles with a diameter of 2 meters were laid for a high-rise building, and on Okhta foundations in the form of barrets were provided, which are much more expensive. This became possible because the soil situation in the new location is much better. Thanks to this and other optimization solutions, we get good money savings per square meter.

- What are the parameters of the tower?

The office part will occupy about 120 thousand square meters, and the total usable area will be about 200 thousand square meters.

The tower is an office tower, and everything connected with it is the maintenance of office premises. We have created the top of the tower for public functions, there is an observation deck, a revolving restaurant and a conference hall area that can be rented out for a short-term lease for any events. The rest are the offices of our investor.

- Do you plan to rent the area to other companies?

At present, everything is being done to meet the needs of the investor, but it is possible that some areas will be leased to third-party tenants.

- The project on the official website involves the placement of a complex of apartments in a building, will these premises also not be sold?

Not a complex of apartments, but a hotel with two hundred rooms, a simple four-star hotel. Can you imagine how many travel allowances we have? You have to place them somewhere. This is the headquarters.

- That is, the apartments will not be redeemed by anyone, including the top management of the company?

No. This is a clean hotel with its own logistics solutions, delivery and cleaning of premises. If there were apartments for implementation, we would change a lot in the project.

- Tell us about the space around the tower.

On the adjacent territory of the business quarter, there is a parking lot for tourist buses, there is an exit to the berthing structure, a museum complex "Poltava" will appear.

Entrance groups in the Eastern part are intended for employees; they are decorated with a very beautiful arch, a span of 99 meters, and a unique engineering structure. Business and tourist life will unfold around this arch.

A large walking area begins from the southeastern part of our territory, stretching along a pedestrian bridge to the park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The walking route will be about 8 kilometers, the issue of building a pedestrian bridge to Krestovsky Island is being considered.

The pedestrian zone is not a 1.5-meter wide walkway, it is a space where any event could be held, up to the May demonstrations. There is an amphitheater in the southern part of our territory.

- Can you tell us a little more about the amphitheater?

The amphitheater appeared in the project by accident. There was a very complex volumetric-spatial solution of the operated roof of the covered parking lot. It was required to create a smooth transition from the highest point of the roof to the water, and our architect proposed to arrange an amphitheater for 2 thousand people. We gladly agreed, and we have one more "feature".

As a result, we got a space where we can carry out any events related to open air and water. We want to see water fountains, water shows, theatrical performances, competitions from the amphitheater ...

The northern part of the territory will be used for pedestrian accessibility. There will be railway platforms, a metro station. We are planning to hold open-air exhibitions on Severnaya Square.

- The project also featured a lake on the official website

Water in the Gulf of Finland is not enough for you? There was no lake, there were and are water surfaces, and this is something completely different. The water surfaces did not appear by chance. We conducted aerodynamic tests to determine the wind loads on the tower itself, as well as the comfort level of the pedestrian zones.

As a result of this work, we identified areas where very strong winds are possible due to downdrafts. We marked these zones in red on the plan, and then changed “red” to “blue” and made a surface of water there. People will not walk in these zones, and the project will receive decorative and protective functions for pedestrian zones.

- How will the transfer be organized?

The metro station is expected only by 2025, so it will take 7 years to operate the facility without a metro. The transfer issue will definitely be resolved, but so far the first thing that comes to mind is to use the delivery service from the Staraya Derevyi and Chernaya Rechka metro stations.

The project also provides for a sufficient number of parking spaces (according to the standard, one parking space for 5 employees and 1 parking space for 10 visitors should be created, but we plan to make more parking spaces), and for tourism purposes, a transfer hub project is being worked out together with the city - these are the new Lakhta railway platforms "Intercepting parking lots. There will also be stops for public land transport. All of this should be operational by 2017.

- How many people will work in the tower?

In total, about 10 thousand people will be on the territory of the complex every day: more than 5 thousand office employees and about 4 thousand visitors and tourists.

- Can you name the approximate amount of investment in the project?

I am not involved in this issue. I am only defining the validity of specific decisions. For example, we calculate the efficiency of refrigeration systems. I know how much money we will save on this. And the total cost of the project is the competence of my management.

- And if you compare it with the Okhta Center project, which project is more expensive?

This cannot be compared at all - the facilities are completely different, but the cost of building one square meter in the Lakhta Center project is lower, because the situation with the soil is different here. We were just very lucky. And the volume of useful areas is much larger here.

- Will the facility be introduced in stages or in one queue?

If we had, like in MIBC “Moscow-City”, when all buildings are divided into separate stages of construction, each building is put into operation independently - we would be terribly happy, but all buildings are a single whole of one object. The design documentation was developed without the allocation of queues, without the allocation of start-up complexes, without the allocation of construction stages.

In our project, engineering support, transport accessibility and everything else is created in an integrated manner, it is impossible to put into operation one tower. We wanted to divide it into stages, but it didn't work out, so we will enter everything at the same time, for which the builders thanked us very much (in quotes). We will have to put into operation all 400 thousand square meters at once. This will be a feat, because in Russia there was no such thing that 400 thousand square meters were commissioned at once at once.

- Tell us what is happening at the facility now? What stage is going on?

The work is in full swing. The piles were completed, the excavation of the tower foundation was completed. This is a colossal structure - five football fields with a depth of 20 meters. It is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. There are spacer discs, a wall in the ground, everything is massive and sound ... A colossal building structure. You physically feel the work of structures. There are people working down there, they are very small, because the height still makes itself felt. Nearby is the bay, but it is dry in the pit. A person who is far from construction does not fully understand how difficult it is. It's just Beautiful with a capital letter, beautiful from the point of view of human capabilities, his engineering thought.