The whole city will stretch under the Lakhta Center tower. Gazprom Tower broke the height record Lakhta Center what will be there

The construction of the complex has been completed. V this moment inside the building, finishing, installation work and improvement activities are underway. The opening was scheduled for the end of 2019.

Where is and how to get to Lakhta center

Metro ("Begovaya") - a 20-minute walk from the complex. The construction of a transport interchange on Primorskoye Highway is underway, the updated traffic scheme will be approved after the construction is completed. Also, a parking lot for several hundred cars will be built on the territory of the business center.

Architectural concept

The project of the complex was developed in 2011 by the European agency RMJM. The concept reflected the main architectural symbols cities: cathedral spiers and endless sky. The tower "spins" around its axis. The effect is created due to the fact that each new floor base is rotated by almost one degree relative to the axis of the tower.

Lakhta Center. Photo: news.yandex.kz

The peculiarity of the skyscraper is a laminated thermo-reflective glass with a special matte coating in a gray-blue tint, which changes color depending on the light intensity. During the day, with a cloudless sky and clear sun, the tower takes on a blue tint, in cloudy weather - gray or bronze. The glazing is smooth, due to which a special optical effect is achieved - white clouds seem to rise along the wall of the structure.

What's inside

The following objects will be located in the public and business complex:

• Panoramic restaurant. The two-level restaurant is located at an altitude of 320 meters. Even before the opening, the restaurant was named the highest in Europe. The concept of the facility is traditional Russian cuisine.
• A transforming hall is a space that can be divided into two rooms. The configuration of the wall and the location of the seats can be changed to suit the format of the event.
• Planetarium. An ultra-modern center with unique optical and digital equipment, designed for a one-time presence of 140 people. The planetarium is equipped with a 16-meter dome screen on which a 3D projection is displayed Solar system... Guests can take part in a space show and walk on the surface of Mars.

Planetarium project. Photo: lakhta.center

• Center for educational and scientific events. Exposition area - 7 thousand sq. meters. The center will host master classes, scientific seminars and lectures for a wide audience.
• Sports complex. On an area of ​​4.6 thousand sq. meters will accommodate gyms and fitness rooms, SPA-complexes, swimming pools and massage rooms.
• Medical Center. The multifunctional complex will provide high-quality medical services to residents of the Primorsky District in all directions.
• Atrium, shopping areas. Shops and retail outlets are located on the ground floor of the building. An exhibition space for displays and art objects is open in the southern wing of the building.
• Offices. The main area of ​​the skyscraper is reserved for the workspace. From 70 to 120 employees will be able to attend on one floor. A comfortable temperature and microclimate will be maintained by an intelligent system.

Panoramic platform Lakhta Center

On the 360th floor of the Lakhta Center tower is equipped observation deck with telescopes for exploring the historical part of the Northern capital and Gulf of Finland... The skyscraper site is expected to become one of the most visited and beloved modern landmarks in the city. At the moment, a webcam is installed on the 360th floor, broadcasting a panorama of the surroundings in real-time mode. Especially clearly visible is Elagin Island, the park named after 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and the Zenit Arena stadium.

View of the Lakhta Center. Photo: @lakhtacenter

Lakhta Center became a symbol of St. Petersburg long before its opening. On the night of December 31 to January 1, 2019, a bright green illumination was lit on the facade of the building, thus turning the high-rise into a giant christmas tree cities.

It is difficult to imagine beautiful St. Petersburg as a city of skyscrapers, but high-rise construction is rapidly bursting into the city of Petra. Its first "swallow" will soon be the majestic "Lakhta Center". At the same time, the Leningradskaya Tower will not be an ordinary skyscraper, but the second tallest among similar Russian and European buildings, bypassing the "Federation" in "Moscow City" and yielding only. While the building is being built, there is time to learn interesting details about it.

General idea of ​​the project

"Lakhta Center", "Lakhta Center" (both spellings are correct) - a public and business complex currently under construction. Its scale 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 Primorskiy The construction of the tower was started in 2012. Its full completion is planned for the III quarter of 2018.

The maximum planned height of the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg with the antenna / spire is 462 m. The top 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 multifunctional building that will divide the atrium into the northern and southern parts. The total area of ​​the future building will be 400 thousand m 2. How many floors are there in the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg? The final number will be 87. The building will be serviced by 102 lifts.

Tower construction progress

Let us 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 excavation work, start of pile driving.
• 2015 - completion of the so-called construction: production of a box foundation, reinforcement and concreting of negative floors.
• 2015-2016 - construction of the first 50 floors of a skyscraper and 7 floors of a multi-purpose plant.
• February 2017 - the 60th floor (260 m) was built.
• April 2017 - work on the construction of the 67th floor (300 m).
• May 10, 2017 - reaching 327.6 m and 78 floors, the skyscraper became the tallest building in the northern capital, "overtaking" the TV tower. The latter held this title for 55 years.

The concept of the Lakhta Center project

According to the project team, this tower, directed into the sky, like a rocket at the start, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, will form with its appearance and content new standards of city life:

• developed social infrastructure;
• modern offices that meet all global environmental requirements;
• comfortable public spaces;
• an abundance of green areas;
• pedestrian and transport accessibility.

The main task of the so-called Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg is to save history Center from 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 move to a polycentric development model, but also attract significant investment, 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 of its historical high-rise buildings - St. Isaac's, Peter and Paul Cathedral - are center points, around which independent and integral ones were lined up Therefore, in order not to spoil the appearance of the city-museum, it was decided to build a skyscraper to house 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 "sea façade" of St. Petersburg. Its appearance does not at all conflict with the "face" of the city - the same theme of a lonely spire on the horizon, an aspiration upward, the outlines of buildings reminiscent of the outlines of the hulls of ships.

According to the architects, the shape of the Lakhta Center should visualize openness, lightness, freedom, the flow of spaces and the energy of the sea. They strive to give the complex the effect of weightlessness and organic unity with the surrounding city and nature. A special type 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 "Lakhta Center" - "Gazprom" tower, is not entirely correct. The project of the "filling" of the complex is striking in its versatility:

• It is planned to allocate only 43% of the total area for office premises.
• A medical center will occupy 2.5 thousand m 2.
• 7 thousand square meters will be guaranteed to be provided to the children's scientific and educational center "World of Science", which will include lecture halls, laboratories, an exploratorium.
• It is planned to open a planetarium in the building, in which 140 people will be able to observe celestial bodies at the same time.
• It is planned to build a transforming multifunctional auditorium for almost 500 people.
• 74-76 floors (330 m) are planned to be allocated for a two-story panoramic restaurant.
• At an altitude of 357 m above the ground, on the 83-86 floor there will be observation deck equipped with powerful telescopes.
• The MFZ will allocate 1.5 thousand m 2 for the exhibition space.
• An impressive 2,000-seat amphitheater is also planned. On its stage, with an area of ​​almost 1.5 thousand square meters, various water shows will take place.
• The complex will also include an indoor pedestrian bridge, which will connect the space of "Lakhta Center" with the park of the city's 300th anniversary.

Other characteristics

Let's get acquainted with interesting technical and design features of the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg:

• The skyscraper stands on 264 piles, each 2 m in diameter and 82 m deep.
• A reinforced concrete core is responsible for the stability of the tower.
• The horizontal rigidity of the skyscraper is achieved due to the outrigger floors - there will be 4 pairs in total. Outriggers will maintain the stability of the tower even if it loses 30% of its support structures.
• Cold-formed glass technology is responsible for the innovative three-dimensional curvature of the complex's facades.
• Illumination of the "Lakhta Center" is a light "pixels". Their color will depend on the season of the year.
• Waste disposal will be an innovative waste disposal.
• It is planned to open a metro station next to the complex with the working name "Lakhta".

Finally, let's see interesting facts associated with the St. Petersburg tower:

• The concreting of the lower slab of the skyscraper foundation entered 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 area of ​​the glass surface of the tower will be equal to 77 thousand m 2. The weight of each glass unit 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 the same year, Lakhta Center became the northernmost skyscraper in the world.

Surprisingly, the tallest skyscraper in Russia will be located in St. Petersburg, the city of contours. In addition to its height, the Lakhta Center project amazes with its versatility, well-thought-out concept and the organic nature of the architectural solution.

Lakhta Center:
what is worth
behind high-rise
frontiers

Partner project

Skyscrapers are the avant-garde construction industry... Superhigh-rise buildings always require a special approach from their creators. In 2018, the construction of the Lakhta Center will be completed in St. Petersburg, which will become the most high skyscraper Europe. What technologies are used to build the St. Petersburg giant?

Europe's new height

The public and business complex "Lakhta Center" is being built in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Its center will be the headquarters of the Gazprom group and the Gazprom Neft company, the other part of the square will be occupied by public spaces: a scientific and educational complex for children and youth, a planetarium, exhibition spaces, medical and sports centers, a multifunctional transforming hall and others.

The complex consists of four structures: a multifunctional building with an atrium, a stylobate (parking and auxiliary premises will be located there), an arch of the main entrance and a 462-meter high skyscraper. It is he who will become the highest not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. The supertoll "Lakhta Center" by 88 meters will outgrow the current European record holder - the "Federation" tower in "Moscow City" - and will be on the 11th place in the world high-altitude rating.

Swamp construction

There is an opinion that St. Petersburg was built on sticky soils, and it is impossible to build skyscrapers here. Experts answer: you can build anywhere, but you need a good calculation. The construction of the St. Petersburg supertoll was preceded by a year and a half of engineering and geological research. The authors of the project studied the geological, geodetic, ecological, historical and cultural features of the site.

It turned out that weak soils make up only the top layer. Below it lies the Vendian horizon - these are the oldest clays, which are 635-540 million years old. As strong as rock or concrete, these clays are an excellent support for a skyscraper. But getting to them is not easy: on the way near the construction equipment there are ice age deposits in the form of giant boulders and sandy loamy sand with gravel. A set of studies, calculations and field tests became the basis for the creation of the Lakhta Center structure.

Device: base

Piles and protective wall

The foundation is protected from pressure and water in the upper layers of the soil by a pentahedral underground structure along the perimeter of the base of the skyscraper. Its height is 30 meters, the length of the walls is more than 300 meters. There are 264 piles installed inside the pentagon, extending to a depth of 82 meters. Their diameter is 2 meters. These are the widest piles in the world. The piles of the foundation of the skyscraper are not hammered in, but created right on the spot - in the ground. The shaft is drilled out, then the reinforcement cage is installed and poured with concrete.

Foundation

The foundation of the skyscraper rests on piles. It consists of three slabs, separated by ten radial walls, radiating "rays" from the core. The most famous of the slabs is the lower one, 3.6 meters thick. It was she who got into the Guinness Book of Records: the builders in 49 hours laid 19 624 cubic meters of concrete in the base of the building. Moreover, the uniqueness of the slab is not in the physical size, but in the technique that provides the necessary bearing capacity with the optimal dimensions of the structure.

More about the record at the Lakhta Center site

Each pile under the tower is a separate complex engineering structure as high as a 30-storey building. Control over its construction is a whole system that includes video monitoring cameras lowered into the shaft and ultrasonic sensors installed in the reinforcement of the pile frame to determine the density and the absence of voids.

Pressure test

The weight of the Lakhta Center tower will be 670 thousand tons, pressing on the ground of a relatively small area. Under pressure, the soil will be compacted, and the skyscraper will settle - like any other building. The main task is to ensure that this draft passes evenly and the building does not deviate from the vertical. To monitor the behavior of the soil, underground structures and their interaction, a geomonitoring system has been created, which combines 4800 sensors.

The sensors are located both in the ground and in all elements of the tower's underground structures. So, 95 sensors "monitor" vertical displacements, 40 - for pore pressure of the soil, 336 measure deformations in piles, 10 - pressure under the base of the foundation, 2136 - the dynamics of forces in the structures of the foundation. All sensors are integrated into an automatic system. After the erection of every five new floors of the tower, the system issues a full report on what is happening with the soil, piles, and foundation. Such knowledge is useful not only for builders, but also for scientific research.

Vertical control

The sediment can pass evenly. But the building itself can be built with a slope. This will not be surprising at a height of almost half a kilometer: an uncorrected deviation of 1 mm at the bottom will lead to a deviation of 1 meter at the top. Lakhta Center cannot afford a strong tilt: a skyscraper is stable "tilted" only if it is specially designed (like, for example, Capital Gate - the building with the largest tilt in the world: at 160 meters in height - 18 degrees of bank). The maximum deviation of the Lakhta Center core allowed by the project is 6 millimeters for all 462 meters. And the goal is to shift the deviation delta to zero, although in world practice no one has yet succeeded in reaching absolute zero.

How does the St. Petersburg supertoll not turn into Leaning tower of pisa?

There are examples of buildings in the world that successfully exist in a state of deviation from the vertical by meters. For example, the 1382 church in Bad Frankenhuisen: the deviation of the spire from the vertical is 4.45 meters with a "growth" of 25 meters.

Device: construction

You can't just build a skyscraper "as long as there are bricks." There are different systems that provide super stability. tall buildings... At the Lakhta Center tower, it consists of a core, outriggers and supporting columns along the perimeter of the building.

It is a "pipe" with a diameter of 24.5 meters with a reinforced concrete wall thickness of 0.8 meters. Responsible for vertical stability.

Outriggers

Outriggers located on technical floors consist of a ring beam around the core and diagonal metal trusses and columns extending from it. These elements transfer forces from the core to the outer columns and reduce the support moment at the bottom of the building, as well as provide horizontal stiffness - for example, dampen the swing of the tower from the wind. There are five outriggers in the Lakhta Center tower, of which four have the form of double floors, and the fifth is atypical, in the form of a powerful reinforced concrete "washer"

Made of composite materials - steel core with reinforced concrete shell. This solution was applied for the first time in civil engineering in Russia. Thanks to him, the cost of the columns is significantly reduced, and the construction time

reduced by 40%, all other things being equal.

Twisted shape

According to the creators, the Lakhta Center tower was conceived as a modern interpretation of the high-rise dominant, which stands out against the background of the traditional horizontal buildings of St. Petersburg. Its "brothers" - the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Admiralty Needle, the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral - adorn the city center, while the new supertoll will become an organizing element in the rapidly developing Primorsky District. The new skyscraper will play the role of the main accent of the business space, which will appear on the line of the “sea facade” of the city.

“The shape of the building symbolizes the energy of water, the flow of spaces, openness and lightness,” the authors of the project explain. “The effect of weightlessness and maximum fusion of the future complex with the environment will be enhanced by the use of a special type of glass, due to which, depending on the time of day, the high-rise building will change color, which will create the feeling of a“ living object ”.

Device: facade

The Lakhta Center tower is twisted around its axis by 90 degrees. There are certain peculiarities in the construction of such a building. For example, due to expansion, contraction and "twisting" all 189 thousand of the tower's metal structures differ from each other (strictly speaking, there are only two identical). The facade elements also differ in shape and bend: 16,505 panels cover an area of ​​72,500 square meters, while 71% of glass units differ from each other in size and geometry. The size of each glass unit is 2.8 by 4.2 meters, weight is 740 kilograms. To service such a whimsical structure, a special facade maintenance system (abbreviated as SOF) has been developed, with its help the facades will be kept clean and, if necessary, repaired.

How to collect 189,000 parts and never make a mistake?

Backlog for the future

Climbing heights is always a matter of having the right technology. Elevator, ventilation, electricity - at one time it was high-rise buildings that were the first to experience all these "novelties". After a successful start, the production of technologies became widespread: from the category of exclusive goods, they moved to the category of minimum standards for the construction of already standard housing and public buildings.

The construction of skyscrapers is due to the development of modern lifting construction equipment, the invention of structures for the stability of buildings, the introduction of new technologies fire safety, modern high-strength building materials... High-rise construction is an area where an order is formed for high-tech solutions, which will then be transferred to other areas of our life.

"Walking" mechanisms for the construction of a skyscraper

Petersburg "Lakhta Center" is actively introducing technologies - something for the first time in the regional and Russian construction market, something in the world. The significance of this construction site for the construction industry can be assessed later, but already now it is clear how the environment is changing: joint production enterprises appear, qualified personnel are growing, suppliers are using new technical solutions - this is how new heights in quality standards are being mastered.

They were preparing for the pouring of the lower slab in advance, because it is impossible to "redo" the work. The participants rehearsed as much as possible. For example, 13 concrete batching plants trained in the manufacture of a unique mix of concrete until they reached its absolute identity.

The filling rate was over 400 cubic meters per hour, and the mixers made more than 2,450 flights. The process was organized in such a way that local residents learned about the event from the media - there was no additional traffic jam on the busy Primorskoye highway, no noise from the construction site.

The deviation delta is monitored by surveyors. They have seven equipment systems (optical and laser) in their arsenal, duplication helps to double-check the readings of the devices. Three of the seven geodetic systems are presented in Russia for the first time, but managed to prove themselves well at the world's leading construction sites.

World Geodetic Premiere - Pulsed High Speed ​​Laser Scanner with Dual Axis Compensator. The device is used for the first time in the construction of a skyscraper. With its help, the builders of Lakhta Center check the position of metal structures inside the concrete environment when manufacturing, for example, composite columns with a steel core inside a concrete structure.

To guide the nucleus in a strictly vertical course, the "space" technology is also involved - the geodetic device Trimble 4D Control. It uses a satellite signal and a geo-sensor system installed at the construction site. Using GPS and GLONASS readings, the system determines the exact coordinates of the core and the offset delta, which is constantly being corrected based on the data received.

BIM is used for assembly - a relatively new technology for Russia. It is a virtual three-dimensional model of the building that brings together all the data of the design documentation. When adding a time dimension, a virtual technology for the construction of an object is built: projects for organizing construction, production of work, logistics of supplies. At Lakhta Center, one more application was added to the standard use of the model. Due to its complex geometry, the tower is assembled from metal structures, each of which has the only possible mounting location. The correctness of the assembly is monitored, including with the help of BIM. On-site structures have barcodes associated with the BIM model. The part code unambiguously indicates its place of installation in the overall structure.

Builders say about the St. Petersburg supertoll that it is “handmade”. We are talking about the uniqueness of the solutions, and as far as labor is concerned, they automate everything that is possible. For example, a “sliding” (automated) formwork system is used to erect the core.

Formwork is a form for concreting, formed by two rows of boards, the space between which is the future wall of the core. The concrete is poured between the boards and hardens.

Conventional formwork has to be loosened, repositioned and reassembled - a huge waste of time and productivity. And the automatic one "moves" as the concrete is poured with the help of hydraulic jacks.

Such self-propelled tools are very fond of at the Lakhta construction site. The wind protection on the tower works according to a similar principle - its panels slide after the formwork. The "walking" mechanisms include a crane in the core of the tower - the first of its kind in St. Petersburg.

Now let's see how they build IGLU GAZPROM

The whole story began with the project of the Okhta Center complex, or Gazprom City. The complex with a 396-meter skyscraper was again planned to be tied to the Neva - it was supposed to rise on the cape, which is formed by the Neva and the Okhta river flowing into it. On the opposite side of the Neva is the famous Smolny Institute, which at one time was the headquarters of the Bolsheviks, and now serves as the residence of the governor of St. Petersburg. The project then made a lot of noise, mostly uninvolved. The glass needle of a skyscraper is radically disharmonious with architectural style Petersburg center, while creating a new high-rise dominant, arguing with the spiers of the Admiralty and the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Such interference in the historic low-rise urban landscape seemed blasphemous to many.

In the end, Okhta Center became Lakhta Center: the construction of Gazprom's skyscraper, now 462 m high, was moved to the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. There is no urban development nearby, and the historic center is as much as 9 km away, so the “needle” will no longer invade the recognizable outlines of old St. Petersburg. The complex of a high-rise building, an auxiliary building and an extensive recreational area is planned to be completed in 2018, and then ...

Is there any practical sense in the construction of such tall buildings where there seems to be no shortage of land? Of course, Lakhta is not crowded with American downtowns, but architecture is not always designed to fulfill a utilitarian function. Sometimes her task is to create symbols, objects of attraction. Historically, such centers of attraction were temples, which were supposed to rise above the surrounding buildings. There was no other meaning than symbolic in this. When elevators appeared and cities began to grow rapidly, high-rise buildings became leaders and dominants. "Lakhta Center" will meet people going to St. Petersburg cruise ships and ferries are like the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, it will become a new symbol of the city, and this is precisely its main aesthetic goal. This is the opinion of the authors of the project.

Even those who are not strong in geography will probably remember: the city, built in the delta, rests on loose, water-saturated soils. Everyone remembers the St. Petersburg metro line, torn by quicksand for almost a decade. In contrast to the textbook Manhattan, which is essentially a bare rock, in the St. Petersburg area the granite shield lies below 200 m, and it is hardly realistic to support the building on it. How to build a skyscraper here? It turns out that from the point of view of geotechnics - the science of soils - there are no monstrous difficulties in this case. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where two twin super skyscrapers were being built, the situation was even worse: the buildings stand on 120-meter piles. Of course, it is too difficult to lean on the rocky ground in Lakhta - this would require piles of unprecedented length in world practice, so you have to use those that hold the building due to the friction force. The upper layers of the soil are very loose, but already below 30 m, rather hard Vendian clays begin, and the piles are held securely in them.

The traditional construction of the foundation of a skyscraper is an array of piles on which a powerful slab rests. In principle, something similar has been done in Lakhta, but the foundation of the St. Petersburg skyscraper will have its own characteristics. It is a box-like structure buried in the ground to a depth of 17 m. Thus, the building will appear to be “sunk” in the ground, which will serve as a more even distribution of the structure's weight and will help to avoid a strong settlement of the skyscraper in the future.

The outer boundary of the foundation is a wall in the ground (in the plan - a regular pentagon, or pentagon). It is not a supporting element, but protects the power part of the foundation from soil pressure, and most importantly, from groundwater seepage. Inside the wall, a foundation pit is dug in the ground, and so that the wall does not collapse, it is gradually strengthened with four reinforced concrete structures located one above the other - the so-called spacer discs. When the pit is ready, the heads of the pre-installed piles are exposed. Piles 264, and the length of the most powerful of them is 82 m. At the bottom of the pit, a concrete slab resting on the tops is poured, and reinforcement for the main supporting structure - the lower foundation slab - is already mounted on it. The designers did not have a shortage of space, and therefore they were able to support the building on a substantial footing in order to ensure maximum stability.

Photo 2.

Photo 3.

The tragedy of the WTC towers in New York, and especially the terrible picture of their collapse, is so clearly engraved in the memory of each of us that the question "what will happen if ???" arises quite naturally, as soon as we are talking about a new high-rise structure. It should be remembered here that the main customer of the complex is Gazprom, and we can say that this building is of strategic importance for our economy.

That is why the task was set to ensure the highest safety standards. In principle, the skyscraper will be built according to the well-known scheme: a cylindrical reinforced concrete core, floors, columns along the outer contour. The WTC towers had about the same design. These were sturdy buildings designed to withstand a Boeing-747 strike, but the destruction of some of the structural structures of the outer contour led to the progressive destruction of others, resulting in a domino effect, and as a result the skyscrapers collapsed. The high-rise building of the Lakhta Center is designed in such a way that it can be supported on one core. It is possible to blow up all ten columns running along the outer contour, but even then the skyscraper will stand. This real fortress, which, according to the calculations of the architects, should survive many decades.

The stability of the structure is a special scheme for redistributing the load of the outer contour of the building to the core. Every 16 floors, ten powerful consoles extend from the reinforced concrete core - a kind of hanging foundations on which a section of the building will additionally rest. There are four such outrigger levels in the skyscraper.

As a result, Lakhta Center will have a margin of safety that is unique among buildings of this kind, significantly exceeding the established international standards.

The reluctance to economize on safety does not mean that the idea of ​​increasing the efficiency of a structure and reducing operating costs is completely alien to the authors of the project. On the contrary, it is very important for Gazprom, given that it is constructing a building “for itself,” to maintain its adherence to modern energy saving technologies, especially in the unfriendly St. Petersburg climate. For example, a building will have a double facade, that is, there will be an insulating layer of air between two glazing lines. The heating system will use such highly efficient devices as infrared emitters. In addition, the heat accumulated in the building from working computers and other office equipment will be removed and then used in the heating system. The air conditioning system has its own peculiarities - it is based not on the usual scheme for removing heat from the room to the outside, but on the underground cold accumulators, which can produce up to 1000 tons of ice per night, and then give it cold to the premises in the daytime. Also, presence detectors will become ubiquitous, which, when there is no one in the room, will turn off the lighting devices.

But will the building be inhabited from the lowest floors to the highest point? High-rise buildings erected for purely commercial purposes are often inhabited from top to bottom, and there are no "frills". However, if we are talking about a symbol, be it the building of the Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Hills in Moscow or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, a significant part of their height is an uninhabited spire, designed to give the structure an aesthetic completeness. Given that the height of the Lakhta Center skyscraper will be 462 m, all the inhabited floors will be below 400 m. Everything above is an architectural element that will help the building perform the function of an urban landmark and decoration sea ​​gate St. Petersburg.

The skyscraper in Lakhta will have a helical appearance, that is, its facades will be distinguished by a rather complex and asymmetrical surface. Especially interesting is the use of cold-formed glass, which makes it possible to make the glazing absolutely smooth. Together with a double façade, this will give unusual optical effects - for example, the reflection of clouds, as if rising diagonally along the wall of the building.

Photo 4.

The construction of a business and public center in Lakhta is not only an attempt to turn St. Petersburg towards the sea with a “human face”, but also an aspiration to follow the centrifugal tendency in modern urban planning. New business parks are being created far from dense urban development, there are large territories, there are no problems with parking. The flow of cars to Lakhta Center will always be in opposition to the flow that moves to the city center in the morning and rushes to the outskirts and suburbs in the evening. This will partially unload the historical center of St. Petersburg, and business activity in the Lakhta Center, on the contrary, will intensify. Of course, the accessibility of the Lakhta Center will be ensured not only for motorists, but also for those who use public transport: the complex will be connected to the city center by a metro line.

However, the purpose of Lakhta Center goes far beyond the task of providing the city with additional office space. In the skyscraper and in the auxiliary building, the project provides not only business premises, but a large Center for entertaining science for children, conference rooms, exhibition spaces, sports and medical complexes, cafes, restaurants, shops and even an ultra-modern planetarium. The vast adjacent territory will house squares, parks, walking paths and an amphitheater overlooking the Gulf of Finland.

We can say that the history of "Lakhta Center" is connected not only with urban planning and architecture. It so happened that the clash of interests of a large national corporation and the aspirations of civil society in the Northern capital regarding the Okhta Center did not lead to the triumph of one side to the detriment of the other, but to a new quality and to a new stage in the development of St. Petersburg.

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The construction of a high-rise building in the area of ​​a deep river delta is a difficult task, but not impossible. The upper layers of the soil have quicksand properties, but the so-called Vendian clays lie at a depth of 30 m, which are comparable in hardness to natural stone. In this regard, it became possible to replace the slotted foundations with bored piles, which will hold the building not due to the support on the rock, but due to the friction force. The piles, the most powerful of which reach a length of 82 m, are not driven in, but installed. Such piles are called bored: first, a well is drilled, then a casing is lowered into it (so that the walls of the well do not crumble), reinforcement is installed inside the pipe, and then concrete is poured.

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"Lakhta Center": "As future residents of Lakhta, we are the first to need a comfortable environment"

The Gazprom tower will acquire a finished look by the end of the year, meanwhile, the city dwellers are concerned about the plans for the development of the adjacent territories. Fontanka studied the city plan, went to the area and received first-hand answers to questions.

The Lakhta Center tower will be completed in a year. When road junctions appear nearby, an amphitheater, an international yacht club and a tennis academy founded by Poltavchenko will open, where the park has disappeared from the project's images and why trees are being cut down, ”said the project's executive director Alexander Bobkov in an interview with Fontanka.

- When will the Lakhta Center be commissioned? Are there any delays?

- As the construction proceeds, you can already observe with the naked eye, at this stage there is nothing to hide - no delays, no breaks ahead. We plan to complete the main construction and installation work by the end of 2017, which will form the final architectural image of our complex. From this moment on, everyone will be able to see it as it was intended. And in 2018 we will finish the internal work and landscaping in order to commission the complex next fall.

- Can new US sanctions affect the pace of construction?

- The main foreign equipment that we needed has already been purchased, and we do not meet the criteria that are described in the sanctions terms. So emotionally this is all unpleasant, but objectively we have no cause for concern.

- When will Gazprom's structures begin to move into the complex?

- This is more a question for tenants who independently equip internal spaces outside the common areas of the center. They are already seriously dealing with this issue, design is underway, and I think that during 2019 the main relocation of Gazprom's structures to the complex will be completed.

- Will Gazprom President Alexei Miller also move to the tower?

- The building has a block for the company's management, including a place where the chairman of the board can work.

Smolny promised to build road junctions near Lakhta Center before its completion in 2018. How do you assess the fulfillment of these obligations?

- As such, the city authorities have never had any obligations to Gazprom. There was a responsibility to the townspeople, in particular the residents of the Primorsky district. The plans for road infrastructure facilities were announced back in 2009, three years before our appearance at the site. Unfortunately, the speed of their implementation is slower than we would like. We hope that next year work will begin on the construction of an overpass between Primorskoye Highway and the southern part of the Lakhta-Olgino settlement, as well as several auxiliary roads. According to the data that we have, similar facilities are usually built in two years.

- So, the junction will appear after the opening of Lakhta Center, and the area will be stuck in traffic jams for now?

- We simulated the transport situation in the Lakhta Center area and found out that the project will not damage the current transport infrastructure. The traffic flows that our complex will generate are of a reverse nature. While in the morning the residents of the residential areas will go to work in the center of St. Petersburg, our workers will head along the practically empty Primorskoe highway to work in the direction of Lakhta. And a similar situation will be repeated in the evening, when our employees will drive home to the center at 18-19 o'clock, and the highway will be stuck in a traffic jam from the city.

Now the facility employs 11 thousand people. All around you can see parked cars, which is not very encouraging local residents... How do you solve this problem?

- Already at the initial stage of construction, we organized the delivery of workers by buses. This is the case now. But at the current stage, the number of highly qualified personnel involved in the installation and adjustment of engineering systems has significantly increased. They do not use centralized delivery systems and drive their own cars.

Neither we nor the residents like the huge amount personal transport, which stands on lawns and along roads. We are trying to resolve this issue in direct communication with the general contractor: we include in the contract clauses that he must ensure order not only on the site, but also around it; we insist that the number of buses be increased, we ourselves are working with the police. We are trying to organize construction camps more "vertically" so that there is more space... That is, in all possible ways we are trying to bring the situation back to normal.

- And after the commissioning of the center, where will the cars of 10 thousand employees and visitors go?

- For the future, we have a spacious underground parking, more than 2,200 parking spaces, under the very tower of the center, and after its opening, the cars of employees and guests will not go beyond the red lines of the facility.

- The places are five times less than the number of workers ...

- You have to understand that a significant part of the complex's employees are by no means white collars and not "automobile" people. They will be accessible by public transport.

- What kind of transport?

- A new one will be created right in the Lakhta alignment railroad station... It will be possible to sit at the Finlyandsky railway station and quickly get to the "Lakhta Center" area. Russian Railways are ready to start work within a year. And in the future, there are plans to restore in this direction a double-track branch, which was in this area 100 years ago. Hopefully we'll see these changes by 2020. Until there is this transport infrastructure, there will be a continuous transportation of people from the station "Begovaya" by shuttles.

- How will the tourists get there?

- We expect that tourists will arrive by water - ships with a large draft of the "Moscow" type will stop in the port "Hercules", and smaller water taxis - at the pier directly at the tower.

Local residents complain that Gazprom has promised to build a park for them. He was featured in the first images of the project. Now in its place are new buildings of the complex. How did it happen?

- We are located on the territory of the former industrial zone. Here before us there were sand dunes with dredges and storms roamed in windy weather. This is all about the question of "the destroyed park and when will we return it." It never happened.

According to the initial project of "Lakhta Center" on the part of our land plot a recreational area was envisaged, which is now called a park by residents, because in the pictures it looked green and comfortable. But after the decision was made to relocate Gazprom as a whole, a project for an office complex appeared on this site, which will take on an additional amount of personnel. This is the story of a lost principality that never existed.

- That is, there will be no compensation for the residents instead of the mythical park?

- We are not building a residential complex, and the policy "after us, even a flood" is inapplicable here. We're going to live here. Accordingly, we are the most interested people to make it comfortable here: for us, our closest neighbors, and the numerous guests of the complex.

What we can definitely talk about now is the Eastern and Southern embankments near Lakhta Center, which in terms of area, landscaping and level of comfort will be comparable to a park. A complete reconstruction and creation of an international sailing center on the basis of the Hercules yacht club is planned next to us, with all the infrastructure - a hotel and a tower for observing regattas. Also, to the west of our site, it is planned to build a tennis academy, to the east - to place an eco-gallery and a museum-ship "Poltava". A large amphitheater is being built near Lakhta Center, which will be able to accommodate several thousand people.

In fact, the industrial area will turn into an open one, comfortable environment... The project will be completely open, and everyone will have access to it.

- Fontanka wrote about the start of construction of the yacht club and tennis academy back in 2013. Why didn't they start?

- As far as I know (these projects are not implemented by our structure), delays are partly due to changes in legislation in the field of land use, partly due to the delay in the adoption of the master plan of the city for two years. The general budgetary situation also did not contribute to the rapid construction. But no one canceled the projects, and they will be implemented.

As far as can be seen on the city plan, it is in these areas that the overgrowth that worries the local residents is now taking place?

- Yes, but in fact we are doing the work. A part of the territory, which is intended for the construction of a transport interchange and sports and leisure infrastructure, we now rent from the city and will temporarily use it to organize the construction process. And then we will put it in order and transfer it back to the city already prepared. So hopefully it will be possible to save some time.

- Are you managing to build a dialogue with the opponents of Lakhta Center?

- In most cases, yes. Moreover, receiving feedback, we see a clear acceptance of our project by the majority of the townspeople. But it happens that a constructive dialogue does not work out, because individual people have their own sense of inner dreams.

- Do you mean an alternative project of one of the local activists?

- Exactly. At the current stage, he proposes to create instead of the embankment, for example, the beach named after Alexander Blok. Or make a ready-made amphitheater a little differently and in another place.

- Is it possible to compare the defenders of Okhta with the activists of Lakhta?

- No, it was completely different. Okhta was a real city referendum. It really was a clash of opinions. Today's talk is like a Nanai boys battle and a professional boxing match compared to her.

By the way, it was said in April that Gazprom was negotiating with Smolny about exchanging a site in Okhta for another. How did it end?

- Now we are not at the stage of negotiations on the exchange of land plots with the city. We are looking for a project that would definitely decorate this place, and would not want it to be given away for a typical residential development. For ourselves, we see there a social and business center, possibly with a residential component. This place is worthy of a landmark project.

Considering that Gazprom is currently in dialogue with any kind of activists on the Lakhta Center, does this mean that the company has learned from the Okhta experience?

- Of course, from the point of view of the formation of public opinion, St. Petersburg is a special city. There are truly authoritative, recognized opinion leaders here, and any large development projects need a comprehensive assessment. When building Lakhta Center, we strive to approach our plans as carefully as possible, taking into account the needs of the townspeople and even, to a certain extent, looking into the future. But these 4 years of construction, I believe, we were as open as possible, and everyone who wanted to participate was able to do it.

But to reconcile all Petersburgers with the new dominant, which is visible even from the Peter and Paul Fortress, still did not work ...

- The urban environment of St. Petersburg is rather conservative. In this sense, it is a question of introducing something new, futuristic, into the habitat that is familiar to the residents of St. Petersburg. It is a really difficult task to create new architecture in the city of classics.

But we hope that Lakhta Center will become a new landmark, a new height for St. Petersburg in the 21st century. The urban landmark that was Peter-Pavel's Fortress in the 18th century or Isaac in the 19th century.

Interviewed by Ilya Kazakov,

"Fontanka.ru"