Culture

Saint Petersburg Heritage Status Threatened By Gazprom Skyscraper

by Annina Bergman | September 23, 2009 at 10:05 am

560 views | 34 Recommendations | 10 comments

Russian gas corporation Gazprom is planning to build a 1,322 foot (403m) high skyscraper in the middle of Saint Petersburg's historical district. The glass structure was approved in a government meeting on Tuesday, but UNESCO is warning Russia that the skyscraper may take the city off the list of world heritage sites.

Gazprom's planned skyscraper is unique in its design, as it will take advantage of plant life in regulating its temperature. The proposed structure will have two layers of glass, with hundreds of trees and other plants heating the building in the winter and cooling it in the summer. The building was designed by British architecture firm RMJM.

The skyscraper will be the first of its kind in the 306-year-old ex-capital of Russia. Opponents to the project are trying to block construction and preserve the city's heritage status.

The skyscraper, called the Okhta Centre, is to be built on the banks of the Large Okhta river. According to Russian media, the usual maximum height in the area is 100 metres (328 feet), meaning the tower would loom over Saint Petersburg's historic centre.

With temperatures in St. Petersburg rising to 30 degrees Celsius in the summer and plummeting to minus 30 in the winter, Whitman says, the design will be able to regulate the temperature without the need for expensive air conditioning or heating systems.

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rezzabellum

at 11:45 on September 23rd, 2009

Noone liked the Eiffel Tower at first, nowadays it's the main symbol of Paris :)

Yuliya Talmazan

at 11:57 on September 23rd, 2009

It would be sad to see the historic image of St. Petersburg changed by the tower. I hope more people stand up against it.

Uwe Paschen

at 16:18 on September 23rd, 2009

403 metres is serious over kill and should with no doubt take Saint Petersburg of the WHS. If they wanted to build energy efficient and environmentally friendly they would do so underground and not with a sky scraper.

That is merely an attempt to demonstrate power and dominance. No different then a Church tower or Cathedral in the middle ages.

Strannik (not verified)

at 14:06 on October 15th, 2009

rutube.ru/tracks/2491983.html?v=58951b8171309672141f2f4f1bb85104all truth about the Ohta-center sky-scraper

Strannik (not verified)

at 14:07 on October 15th, 2009

rutube.ru/tracks/2491983.html?v=58951b8171309672141f2f4f1bb85104all truth about the Ohta-center sky-scraper

Strannik (not verified)

at 14:08 on October 15th, 2009

rutube.ru/tracks/2491983.html?v=58951b8171309672141f2f4f1bb85104all truth about the Ohta-center sky-scraper

Darya tarawneh (not verified)

at 00:30 on October 21st, 2009

this is crazy ..... they can domenstrate power in different things! why to follow the main stream of architecture .. this s a destruction for the history layers and the history stratas of the city. it is such a shame!