PRESS RELEASE
Tallest European Skyscraper in Saint Petersburg reached its final height of 462 meters
Installation of the 13 meter heigh upper part of the spire of Lakhta Center
JANUARY 2018. The skyscraper of the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg has reached its design height of 462 meters – a new record of a high-rise building in Europe. Ende Januar 2018 wurde die 13 Meter hohe Spitze aus Edelstahl auf den Turm mit seiner cold formed glass facade gesetzt. The construction of the above-ground part of the skyscraper took two and a half years. The entire Complex construction with the 87-story scyscraper, a Multifunctional Building and a Main Entrance Arch should be completed on schedule by the end of 2018.
Designed by Gorproject SAO architects from Moscow the scyscaper twists 90 degrees from its foundation to the top. This special geometry of the building with different storey sizes and the 0.82° twisted ceilings have been very challenging for façade construction. Nevertheless, the tower seems to elegantly and uniformely spiral up into the sky. Such effect can only be achieved with cold formed glass facades. Glazed atria at the five outside edges will be naturally ventilated together with other energy saving technologies, the Lakhta tower will be a Green Building. With a total of approx. 100.000 m2, the façade made of aluminium, steel and cold curved glass by the German company Josef Gartner represents the size of around 14 soccer fields. Large parallelogram shaped façade units give the skyscraper a very high degree of transparency. On the lower levels, the façade is inclined outwards while the upper levels are inclined inwards.
The spire as the final part of the Lakhta Center scyscraper was installed without involving helicopters, with the use of the highest crane in Europe. Up to the elevation of Level 87 (368.8 m), the spire has an exploited space with an observation deck. From Level 88 (377.35 m), it accommodates a technical area for the installation of equipment of the building maintenance, communication and navigation systems. Verkleidet wurde die Turmspitze mit Fassadentypen aus Stahl und einem Edelstahlnetz und Edelstahlprofilen verkleidet, deren elegantes Design ähnlich transparent wie Glas wirkt.
Als die Wetterbedingungen im russischen Winter günstig waren wurde dann am 29. Januar der rund 10 Tonnen schwere upper part of the spire mit einer LED-Beleuchtung, einem Flugwarnlicht sowie einer Heizung gegen Eis mit einem Turmdrehkran montiert. Im bayerischen Gundelfingen hatte Gartner diese Spitze in Kooperation mit der Edelstahl-Mechanik in Göppingen aus bis zu 8 cm dicken Edelstahlblechen gefertigt. Diese Formbleche wurden laser- und wasserstrahlgeschnitten und zu einer komplexen Konstruktion geschweißt und verschraubt. Mit Sondertransporten wurden die 7,6 Meter lange obere Spitze und die 5,3 Meter lange untere Spitze dann auf zwei LKWs nach St. Petersburg gefahren.
„The skyscraper of the Lakhta Center has not only acquired a complete architectural form, but has become a full-fledged part of the marine facade of the northern capital and a new symbol of the city looking to the future. The Lakhta Center is being implemented as a global urban development project, which is unprecedented from the point of view of the share of public spaces that combine educational and cultural functions,“ Elena Ilyukhina, Lakhta Center Director General, member of the board of Gazprom Neft PJSC told. As an innovative multifunctional complex the Lakhta Center will hourse the headquarters of Gazprom Group and offer public spaces.
Further information:
www. lakhta.center/en, www.josef-gartner.de
Dr. Jochen Mignat, Dr. Mignat PR, Am Hexenpfad 11, 63450 Hanau, Tel. +49 6181 507 91 0, pr@mignat.de
