Lakhta Center
Lakhta Center is a public and business complex in St. Petersburg, which causes ambiguous attitude. What is it: a new symbol of the Northern Capital, the embodied energy of fire, the best skyscraper in the world according to the Emporis Skyscraper Award, or just another business center nobody needs, spoiling the usual picture of the historically established districts of the city? Some consider Lakhta Center to be a beautiful and interesting construction, which is becoming an increasingly popular point of attraction for both the city’s indigenous residents and tourists. Supporters of architectural conservatism, in turn, do not understand why anyone calls this skyscraper, which resembles an outlandish alien ship, a landmark and is happy about its appearance in St. Petersburg.
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Like another famous long-built building, the House of Soviets in Kaliningrad, the Lakhta Center now has more opponents than fans. But once Parisians didn’t like the Eiffel Tower, and now Paris isn’t Paris without it. So it is quite possible that the same fame awaits Lakhta Center. We’ll see!
Video: Lakhta Center
Contents- Construction history
- Construction progress of Lakhta Center
Design and construction features - Interesting facts
- Useful information
- How to get there
Lakhta Center is currently closed, finishing works and landscaping are underway. The complex is scheduled to open in November 2023.
History of construction
The original project was called “Okhta Center”. The object built according to it was to be located in the Krasnogvardeysky district opposite the Smolny Cathedral, in the center of St. Petersburg. But since this territory, where the Swedish fortress of Nyenshants is located, is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, many Russians did not like this idea at all. Expectedly, Francesco Bandarin, the former head of the cultural institution, also spoke out against the construction. Because of the controversy and pickets organized by the citizens of St. Petersburg in defense of the familiar picture of the old city, it was decided to move the construction work to the shore of the Gulf of Finland in the Lakhta district. In translation from Finnish lahti means “bay”. It is noteworthy that the skyscraper has changed not only its residence, but also its name.
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In the history of the construction of Lakhta Center already there were no less skeptical speeches. Some called the project an “ecology killer”, others claimed that sorrel mites and endemic mosquitoes would suffer, and others called to think about birds. But those who were worried about the fate of Primorsky highway and the stadium on Krestovsky Island stood out the most against the background of those protesting against the construction of the public-business complex. “What do the highway and the stadium have to do with it?” – you ask. And the fact that if the tower is blown away by the wind, it will fall either towards the Gulf of Finland (a wave will rise and wash away the stadium) or towards the highway (the road will be blocked).
.Scientists, despite all the contradictions, agreed that the place for the construction of the building was chosen correctly. At the stage of preparation of construction work were conducted numerous studies, the results of which indicate that the structure will have a high level of resistance to earthquakes, and will withstand shocks of 6 points on the Richter scale. And indeed, it was possible to lay the most reliable and stable foundation here, because the Vendian clay, which is very strong in this area, lies only at a depth of 30 meters.
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Construction progress of Lakhta Center
The customer and part-time investor of the project is Gazpromneft East-European Projects Joint Stock Company. The general contractor is Renaissance Construction company founded by Turkish businessmen. Dozens of construction organizations took part in the construction of the skyscraper. About 11,000 people of different nationalities worked on the construction site: Russians, Italians, Turks, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Serbs, Germans, Koreans. The work was carried out around the clock, without breaks and weekends. On average it took 5-7 days to construct one floor of the building. The cost of construction was 1.77 billion dollars or 155 billion rubles.
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In October 2018, Gosstroynadzor of St. Petersburg issued Lakhta Center an occupancy permit. The multifunctional complex was put on the cadastral registration.
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In the summer of 2017, the zero cycle of the second stage was launched, and already in November the pile field construction was completed. In September 2019, steel structures were installed in the Complex of Buildings and Structures, concrete slabs were poured, communications were laid and double-glazed windows were installed. In July 2020, Gosstroynadzor gave permission for the introduction of the second phase of the public-business complex.
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Officially, the skyscraper was under construction from 2012 to 2018, but it is still closed. So when will the Lakhta Center open? There is no unambiguous answer to this question. As of October 2022, finishing and other types of internal works are underway, the territory is being landscaped. The skyscraper’s official website states that the opening date of the complex will be announced only after these works are completed.
.Design and construction features
The Lakhta Center public-business complex consists of five objects: the tower (St. Petersburg residents call it “gas-skreb”, “corn”, “cucumber”, “Sauron’s Tower”), a multifunctional building (MFB), a complex of buildings and structures (CPS), the main entrance arch building and a stylobate. The total area of the complex is 570,000 m².
.The architectural concept of the public-business complex was developed in 2011 by the British architectural agency RMJM. The idea of the canceled in 2010 project “Okhta-Center” was taken as a basis. The interior design concept was developed by the European bureau Exclusiva Design Srl.
.Lakhta Center is equipped with an innovative lighting system that unites the tower, the main entrance arch, squares and the Multifunctional Building. The backlighting system includes approximately 0.5 million LEDs embedded in 23,000 lighting fixtures. There are approximately 17,000 light fixtures per tower.
‘ Lakhta Center Complex in 2021Tower
The 462-meter tower is the northernmost skyscraper in the entire world and is one of the five most environmentally friendly super-tall buildings on the planet. In plan, the building is a star with five rays. Each ray has a cone-shaped twisted shape and diverges from a central core. All five wings of the tower are rotated with respect to their centers by 0.82 degrees, which is approximately 90 degrees in height. The technical and architectural solutions of the Lakhta Center tower, on which engineers, designers and architects of GORPROEKT JSC have been working since 2011, are in many aspects innovative not only for the Russian Federation, but also for the whole world.
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There is not a single typical, repetitive floor in the tower project, so it is not surprising that compared to other existing skyscrapers in the world, Lakhta Center is considered to be one of the most original and complex. It was possible to realize this project only thanks to parametric design and the use of BIM-technologies. The latter allow the operation service to clearly see the structure of the complex and all its engineering systems in order not only to manage them effectively, but also to quickly identify and correct problems that arise.
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Unique operations for the simultaneous and continuous concreting of the tower foundation slabs into the bottom slab – just over 19,600 m³ – were carried out in 2015. Concreting was carried out for 49 hours without stops or interruptions. This is a new record in the industry and has been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.
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Bored piles were used as the base for the tower’s foundation. A total of 264 concrete piles were used. Their diameter is 2 meters and the drilling depths are 72 meters and 82 meters. The stability of the skyscraper is ensured thanks to a special structural system, which consists of a core, supporting columns and outriggers.
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In total, 40 elevators of different purposes are located in the core of the Lakhta Center skyscraper: high-speed passenger elevators, utility and administrative elevators, fire elevators, and emergency elevators for use in case of emergencies. The elevators deliver passengers to the floor they need in a maximum of 1.4 minutes. The average speed of the elevators is 5.25 m/s and the average wait time is 15-20 seconds.
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‘ Elevators of the complexElevators of the complexThe tower is equipped with an innovative fire extinguishing system. The main feature of this system is the use of finely atomized water to extinguish fires. When the system is triggered, the fire is extinguished not by the usual “rain”, but by a thick and very dense fog, which perfectly absorbs carbon monoxide and soot. Fireproof curtains are installed in the interior areas, and automatic sprinkler irrigation is provided to protect the facade glazing.
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One of the significant elements of the skyscraper’s architectural solution is the double-threaded intelligent facade. In general, the entire façade envelope is divided into single-strand and double-strand zones. In order to glaze the outer thread of the facade, it was decided to use an innovative system of cold-curved glazing, which makes the curved facade surface look visually continuous and solid. The laminated glazing unit takes the shape of the frame by bending the tempered glass without any heat treatment. This creates a spirally curved and completely smooth facade that perfectly reflects the clouds and sky.
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Multifunctional building (MFB)
MFZ is a facility of a public-business complex divided into two buildings that share the same roof and foundation. It is expected that the MFZ will house many public spaces of Lakhta Center. The peculiarity of the multifunctional building is the slope of the end facades, it has a negative angle. The MFZ has a variable number of floors from 7 to 17 floors. The peak height of the building is 82 meters and its length is 300 meters.
The building has a frame structural scheme. About 25,000 tons of steel structures were used to build this facility. The main load-bearing elements are 4 reinforced concrete cores, which take vertical and horizontal loads and transfer them to the foundation. The foundation is made in the form of a slab-on-girder supported on piles.
Between the buildings of the multifunctional building there is an atrium, through the space of which the transition bridges are thrown over. The roof of the atrium is made of polymer translucent ETFE membranes. From the atrium, which is essentially a pedestrian zone, one can easily access the desired object of the building.
Complex of Buildings and Structures (KZS)
The architecture of the GLC is almost identical to that of the MFC, but there are some differences between the two. The maximum height of the Complex of Buildings and Structures is 85 meters, and the variable storeyage is from 2 to 13 floors. The structural scheme of the MFC consists of 16 stiffening cores.
.Two underground levels of the building are formed due to a single stylobate of both buildings of the complex. It is assumed that the GLC will mainly house offices.
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Interesting facts
- Although the official opening of the Lakhta Center has not yet taken place, the skyscraper is already taking an active part in the cultural life of the city on the Neva. In 2018, to celebrate New Year’s Eve, the building’s facade was lit up with green festive lighting, which turned the “cornucopia” into the world’s tallest Christmas tree.
- In 2019, an automatic weather station was installed on the tower at its highest point, which monitors wind speed and direction, humidity and air temperature. And there is also an antenna with a satellite navigation system installed here. Its main task is to fix and react to any deviations of the top point of the skyscraper spire due to wind loads. .
- In early June 2022, as part of the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great, a monument to the Emperor who saves drowning people in Lakhta was unveiled not far from the tower on the initiative of PJSC Gazprom.
- This monument is a partial recreation of the monument that stood from 1909 to 1918 on Admiralteyskaya Embankment. The statue of Peter the Great is based on the sketches of the author’s copy of the lost sculpture of the famous Russian sculptor-portraitist Leopold Adolfovich Bernshtam. The original sculpture was created by St. Petersburg architect Academician Alexander Ivanovich von Gogen. The height of the modern statue, the authors of which are architect Mikhail Mamoshin and sculptor Stepan Mokrousov-Guglielmi, is 7.5 meters. The monument’s pedestal is made of stone, and the sculpture itself is made of bronze. .
- The public-business complex has an innovative transformer hall, which for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 minutes can completely change its own configuration and the configuration of the stage. The lecture area equipped with step seats can be transformed at the touch of a button into a podium, a theater with an orchestra pit or a ballroom. .
- Lakhta Center is not only Gazprom’s headquarters, but also a real mini-city. The boomerang-shaped part of the complex will house a children’s technology park, a sports complex, cafes, restaurants, stores and other public facilities. Both adults and children will be able to spend a whole day here in a fun, interesting and useful way!
- It takes 94 days and a team of 20 people to put the windows on the “corn” in order. To rub to a mirror shine the facades of the two buildings outside, you need to spend 119 days, inside – 104 days. Industrial climbers using special electric hoists will clean the windows of the tower at its highest part.
Useful information
The address of the Lakhta Center is: St. Petersburg, Lakhtinsky Prospekt, 2, Building 4. In December 2018, a special commission approved a new address: 1 Vysotnaya Street, Building 1.
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Official website: https://lakhta.center/.
.Phone of the press service: +7 (812) 448-31-61.
.How to get there
In 2025-2026 it is planned to build a metro station “Lakhta”, so it will be very easy to get to the skyscraper. Russian Railways plans to create an additional platform, which will be located 400 meters from Lakhta Center. And also the project provides connection of the complex to the street and road network by means of two one-way bridges for two lanes – northern and southern.
.The northern bridge will run from Primorsky Highway to the traffic circle on the territory of the complex, and the southern bridge will run from Savushkina Street to the same traffic circle. On the southern bridge it is planned to equip a fenced path for cyclists. By the way, one more great news for cyclists: there will be a 600-meter bicycle lane on the territory of the complex, and the complex itself will be equipped with a bicycle parking lot for 90 places.
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So far, the nearest metro station is Begovaya station of the Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya metro line (3rd or green line). The station is located 1.7 kilometers from the public-business complex. From this metro station to Lakhta Center there are buses No. 101, 110, 211, 216 and minibuses No. 417, 405, 400, 305a, 305, 232, 210, 206. While the tower is not yet operational, it can also be viewed from St. Petersburg’s 300th Anniversary Park.
.There is another good option: you can go from Finland Station to the Lakhta platform, and from there you can walk to your destination (6 minutes walk at an average pace) or take public transportation for just one stop.
.You can also take a cab to Lakhta Center, enjoying the beautiful views of St. Petersburg along the way.
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