Okhta Center

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Coordinates: 59°56′30″N 30°24′26″E / 59.941782°N 30.407274°E / 59.941782; 30.407274

 This article contains information about expected future buildings or structures. Some or all of this information may be speculative, and the content may change as building construction begins.
Okhta Centre model

Okhta Centre (Russian: О́хта-це́нтр), known before March 2007 as Gazprom City (Russian: Газпро́м-си́ти), is a construction project of a business centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It will include the first supertall skyscraper in the city.

On November 15, 2005, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Saint Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko announced that Sibneft is going to build the Gazprom City Business centre. This includes a 396 meter-high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River, in front of the Smolny Cathedral, despite the fact that current regulations forbid construction of a building of more than 42 (48 with expert approval) meters high there.

On March 20, 2006, Gazprom and the city signed an agreement under which Sibneft agreed to pay 20 billion rubles 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. [1]

Alexei Miller claimed that he is "positive that St. Petersburg’s citizens will be proud of these new architectural masterpieces."[2] However, the Director of the Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, has spoken out against the plan. The Saint Petersburg Union of Architects also voiced opposition to it in July 2006, as did many other citizens.[3]

Projected view of the district

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)[4], 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 Landscrona, occupied the site in early 14th century, and another fortress Nyenskans on the site until 18th century in the form of a five-sided star to maximise views for defensive purposes.[5] 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.[6]

As the historical centre of St. Petersburg is a World Heritage Site; in December 2006 UNESCO World Heritage centre Director Francesco Bandarin reminded Russia about its obligations to preserve it and expressed concern over the project.[7] 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.

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%.[8]

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.[9]

The core design team, led by British architect Tony Kettle, includes RF Chief Architect Philip Nikandrov, Chief Designer Charles Phu, and Roger Whiteman.[10] 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.[11]

[edit] References and notes

Okhta centre construction site. The inscription says: "Okhta centre is the project of the 21th century". Three types of flags are there: of Saint Petersburg, of Russia and of Gazprom
  1. ^ http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?docId=726850
  2. ^ Experts Slam Giant Gazprom Tower Plan by Evgenia Ivanova, The St. Petersburg Times #1188 (54), July 21, 2006.
  3. ^ Hermitage director joins outcry over city-centre skyscraper plan by Tom Parfitt, The Guardian, November 10, 2006.
  4. ^ Gazprom jury walk-out by Ellen Bennett, Building Design, the Architects' Website, December 8, 2006
  5. ^ http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=453&storycode=3119930&c=1
  6. ^ http://www.rmjm.com/projects/view-detail/7
  7. ^ UNESCO is worried by Elena Ragozina, Vedomosti #229 (1756), December 5, 2006 (in Russian).
  8. ^ http://realty.lenta.ru/news/2007/03/16/ohta/
  9. ^ http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/372120.htm
  10. ^ NEBIVALOE BIVAET", OOO Okhta Centre, 2007, RF
  11. ^ http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=25847&highlight=okhta

[edit] Links

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