Okhta Center
Encyclopedia
Okhta Centre known before March 2007 as Gazprom City , is a construction project of a business centre in Saint Petersburg
, Russia
. It will include the first supertall skyscraper
in the city, museums and a concert hall. The 403-metre main tower of Okhta Centre is set to be the tallest building in Europe amongst live building proposals.
The core design team includes Chief Design Architect Charles Phu
, Russian architect Philip Nikandrov, Tony Kettle and Roger Whiteman. In 2008, Arabtec, the construction company involved in construction of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, has won a contract to build this 60 billion-ruble ($2.56 billion) complex.
CEO Alexei Miller
and Saint Petersburg
governor Valentina Matviyenko
announced the intention of Sibneft
to build the Gazprom City Business centre. The plans included a 300 metre-high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River
59°56′37.6"N 30°24′27.1"E, across from the Smolny Cathedral, despite the fact that current regulations forbid construction of a building of more than 42 (48 with expert approval) metres high there. The plans were later revised to increase the height of the skyscraper to more than 400 metres.
On March 20, 2006, Gazprom and the city signed an agreement under which Sibneft agreed to pay 20 billion ruble
s of taxes to the city annually after moving there, which was supposed to occur in the near future, while St. Petersburg agreed to allocate 60 billion rubles during ten years for the project's construction.
On December 1, 2006, Gazprom and the city authorities announced that the British architectural firm RMJM London Ltd. had been chosen to build the centre by a committee consisting of four foreign architects (in fact, three of the four architects, namely Norman Foster
, Rafael Viñoly
and Kisho Kurokawa, retired from the jury before it convened, opposing all of the shortlisted designs because of their height), four representatives of the St. Petersburg City Administration, including Matviyenko herself, and representatives of Gazprom: Alexei Miller, Valery Golubev
(Deputy CEO Gazprom, Head of the Department for Construction and Investment of Gazprom, former Head of the Vasileostrovsky Administrative District
of St. Petersburg) and Alexander Ryazanov
(President of Gazprom Neft
, fired on November 17 during the competition). The construction of the entire Gazprom City is supposed to be completed by 2016.
The proposed twisting tower is inspired by a Swedish fortress named Landskrona (not to be confused with the town of that name), occupied the site in early 14th century, and another fortress Nyenschantz on the site until 18th century in the form of a five-sided star to maximise views for defensive purposes. The inspiration for the design also comes from energy in water, with the building form deriving its shape from the changing nature of water and ever changing light. It gives a new interpretation to the historical fortresses with modern aesthetics and technology - transparency and democracy, internal and external interactions. It also features a unique environmental strategy, which acts as a low energy double-layered skin of the tower allowing maximum daylight and minimum heat loss in the extreme climate of the city.
In March 2007 the project was renamed from Gazprom City to Okhta centre (after the river of Okhta). It was also decided that Gazprom Neft would allocate 51% of funds for the construction project, while city budget would account for only 49%.
In late 2008, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko
introduced an amendment into the city budget delaying investment in the Okhta centre for the first half of 2009. The reason was due to the current financial crisis.
In December 2010, Governor Matviyenko announced that the project plan on the Okhta site was abandoned and will be built in the outskirts of the city.
The new planned site is farther from the historic center of St. Petersburg, on the northern shore of the Neva Bay
(Gulf of Finland). This site is on the Primorskoye Highway (Приморское Шоссе), in the Laktha
area of the Primorsky District, northwest of Vasilyevsky Island. Although the new site is nowhere near the Okhta River, the project's name has not changed.
Construction of the project at the Lakhta site is supposed to resolve the conflicts that previously existed with the city's laws concerning cultural preservation. Some aspects of the design, including the height of the skyscraper, may need to be adjusted in accordance with the engineering and geologic characteristics of the new site.
, Mikhail Piotrovsky
, has spoken out against the plan. Russia's culture ministry has also been reported to object to the tower's plan. The Saint Petersburg Union of Architects also voiced opposition to it in July 2006, as did many other citizens. In October 2009, about 3,000 people protested against the tower in St. Petersburg, arguing that it would spoil the city's historic skyline.
As the historical centre of St. Petersburg
is a World Heritage Site
in 1991; in December 2006 UNESCO
World Heritage centre Director Francesco Bandarin reminded Russia about its obligations to preserve it and expressed concern over the project. In 2007, the World Monuments Fund
placed the historic skyline of St. Petersburg on its 2008 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites due to the potential construction of the building, and in 2009 reported that the tower "would damage the image of Russia."
In 2010 it was reported by Russian and UK press that the project's Chief Architect Charles Phu
said at a public debate in London that the architect has been getting regular memoranda from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
, encouraging them to go ahead with the project of Okhta Centre and promising support from the government. This was proved to be untrue according to Putin, Phu himself and the debate participants. This controversial report, followed by heated public discussions, has resulted in certain impact on the politics in Russia.
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It will include the first supertall skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in the city, museums and a concert hall. The 403-metre main tower of Okhta Centre is set to be the tallest building in Europe amongst live building proposals.
The core design team includes Chief Design Architect Charles Phu
Charles Phu
Charles Phu , is a London-based architect, opera set designer, and painter. Born in Taiwan, he was educated and has practiced architectural design in the United States. Phu has made a number of studies on architecture and cultures including Uyghurs, Mongolians, Uzbeks along the ancient Silk Road...
, Russian architect Philip Nikandrov, Tony Kettle and Roger Whiteman. In 2008, Arabtec, the construction company involved in construction of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, has won a contract to build this 60 billion-ruble ($2.56 billion) complex.
Planning and construction
On November 15, 2005, GazpromGazprom
Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...
CEO Alexei Miller
Alexei Miller
Alexey Borisovich Miller is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Management Committee of Russian energy company Gazprom, Russia's largest company and the world's biggest natural gas producer....
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
governor Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko , born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation...
announced the intention of Sibneft
Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft is the fifth largest oil producing and refining company in Russia. It's the oil arm of Gazprom, which owns 80% of Gazprom Neft's shares....
to build the Gazprom City Business centre. The plans included a 300 metre-high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River
Neva River
The Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...
59°56′37.6"N 30°24′27.1"E, across from the Smolny Cathedral, despite the fact that current regulations forbid construction of a building of more than 42 (48 with expert approval) metres high there. The plans were later revised to increase the height of the skyscraper to more than 400 metres.
On March 20, 2006, Gazprom and the city signed an agreement under which Sibneft agreed to pay 20 billion ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s of taxes to the city annually after moving there, which was supposed to occur in the near future, while St. Petersburg agreed to allocate 60 billion rubles during ten years for the project's construction.
On December 1, 2006, Gazprom and the city authorities announced that the British architectural firm RMJM London Ltd. had been chosen to build the centre by a committee consisting of four foreign architects (in fact, three of the four architects, namely Norman Foster
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
, Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....
and Kisho Kurokawa, retired from the jury before it convened, opposing all of the shortlisted designs because of their height), four representatives of the St. Petersburg City Administration, including Matviyenko herself, and representatives of Gazprom: Alexei Miller, Valery Golubev
Valery Golubev
Valery Aleksandrovich Golubev , former Soviet Union) is a Russian politician and businessman. He is a former Head of the Vasileostrovsky Administrative District of St. Petersburg, former member of the Federation Council of Russia, currently a Deputy CEO Gazprom and the Head of its Department for...
(Deputy CEO Gazprom, Head of the Department for Construction and Investment of Gazprom, former Head of the Vasileostrovsky Administrative District
Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg
The federal city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, is divided into eighteen city districts , which are in turn subdivided into municipal okrugs, municipal towns, and municipal settlements.-Admiralteysky District:...
of St. Petersburg) and Alexander Ryazanov
Alexander Ryazanov
Alexander Nikolayevich Ryazanov is a Russian businessman and politician.-Business career:In 1988-1998, he was the CEO of the Surgut Gas Processing Factory. From November 2001 to 16 November 2006, he was a First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom. He was the President of Sibneft ...
(President of Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft is the fifth largest oil producing and refining company in Russia. It's the oil arm of Gazprom, which owns 80% of Gazprom Neft's shares....
, fired on November 17 during the competition). The construction of the entire Gazprom City is supposed to be completed by 2016.
The proposed twisting tower is inspired by a Swedish fortress named Landskrona (not to be confused with the town of that name), occupied the site in early 14th century, and another fortress Nyenschantz on the site until 18th century in the form of a five-sided star to maximise views for defensive purposes. The inspiration for the design also comes from energy in water, with the building form deriving its shape from the changing nature of water and ever changing light. It gives a new interpretation to the historical fortresses with modern aesthetics and technology - transparency and democracy, internal and external interactions. It also features a unique environmental strategy, which acts as a low energy double-layered skin of the tower allowing maximum daylight and minimum heat loss in the extreme climate of the city.
In March 2007 the project was renamed from Gazprom City to Okhta centre (after the river of Okhta). It was also decided that Gazprom Neft would allocate 51% of funds for the construction project, while city budget would account for only 49%.
In late 2008, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko , born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation...
introduced an amendment into the city budget delaying investment in the Okhta centre for the first half of 2009. The reason was due to the current financial crisis.
In December 2010, Governor Matviyenko announced that the project plan on the Okhta site was abandoned and will be built in the outskirts of the city.
The new planned site is farther from the historic center of St. Petersburg, on the northern shore of the Neva Bay
Neva Bay
The Neva Bay , also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where the city of St. Petersburg is sited....
(Gulf of Finland). This site is on the Primorskoye Highway (Приморское Шоссе), in the Laktha
Lakhta, Saint Petersburg
Lakhta is a historical area in Lakhta-Olgino Municipal Okrug of St. Petersburg, Russia, situated west of Lake Lakhta . It was formerly owned by Peter the Great, Count Grigory Orlov, and Count Stenbock-Fermor . The Lakhta railway station of the Primorsky Railway connects Lakhta to Central...
area of the Primorsky District, northwest of Vasilyevsky Island. Although the new site is nowhere near the Okhta River, the project's name has not changed.
Construction of the project at the Lakhta site is supposed to resolve the conflicts that previously existed with the city's laws concerning cultural preservation. Some aspects of the design, including the height of the skyscraper, may need to be adjusted in accordance with the engineering and geologic characteristics of the new site.
Reception
Alexei Miller claimed that he is "positive that St. Petersburg’s citizens will be proud of these new architectural masterpieces." However, the Director of the Hermitage MuseumHermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
, Mikhail Piotrovsky
Mikhail Piotrovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky is the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. He was born in Yerevan in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic on 9 November 1944 to Boris Piotrovsky, a notable Orientalist and himself the future Director of the Hermitage, and Armenian mother...
, has spoken out against the plan. Russia's culture ministry has also been reported to object to the tower's plan. The Saint Petersburg Union of Architects also voiced opposition to it in July 2006, as did many other citizens. In October 2009, about 3,000 people protested against the tower in St. Petersburg, arguing that it would spoil the city's historic skyline.
As the historical centre of St. Petersburg
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St...
is a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 1991; in December 2006 UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage centre Director Francesco Bandarin reminded Russia about its obligations to preserve it and expressed concern over the project. In 2007, the World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training....
placed the historic skyline of St. Petersburg on its 2008 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites due to the potential construction of the building, and in 2009 reported that the tower "would damage the image of Russia."
In 2010 it was reported by Russian and UK press that the project's Chief Architect Charles Phu
Charles Phu
Charles Phu , is a London-based architect, opera set designer, and painter. Born in Taiwan, he was educated and has practiced architectural design in the United States. Phu has made a number of studies on architecture and cultures including Uyghurs, Mongolians, Uzbeks along the ancient Silk Road...
said at a public debate in London that the architect has been getting regular memoranda from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, encouraging them to go ahead with the project of Okhta Centre and promising support from the government. This was proved to be untrue according to Putin, Phu himself and the debate participants. This controversial report, followed by heated public discussions, has resulted in certain impact on the politics in Russia.
External links
- Official Site of the Okhta centre project
- Gazprom Neft Willing to Invest in Real Estate by Pavel Nikiforov and Maria Shevchenko, KommersantKommersantKommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
, June 8, 2006. - Skyscraper row hits city of tsars, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, November 28, 2006. - Russian Window on the West Reaches for the Sky by Steven Lee Myers, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, November 28, 2006. - Moscow Lashes Gazprom’s St. Pete Development Plans by Elena Gerusova, KommersantKommersantKommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
, November 25, 2006. - Gazprom CEO Picks New Symbol for St. Pete by Kira Dolinina and Elena Gerusova, KommersantKommersantKommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
, December 2, 2006. - Gazprom Winner is ‘Corn on the Cob’ by Kevin O’Flynn and Galina Stolyarova, The St. Petersburg TimesSt. Petersburg Times (Russia)The St. Petersburg Times is a weekly, English-language newspaper based in St. Petersburg, Russia. It serves the expatriate community, tourists, and Russians interested in an international perspective on local and world affairs...
#1227 (93), December 4, 2006. Gazprom City-related newsblock at Fontanka.ru - More Information about the Okhta centre project
- World Monuments Fund Watch Page for St. Petersburg
- Visual Analysis projecting the appearance of the tower at the Lakhta site, from various points in St. Petersburg