On the centennial of the Russian Revolution, overlooking the Gulf of Finland, rises Lakhta Tower, soon to be the tallest building in all of Russia and Europe. Just 9 km outside of St. Petersburg, the region again finds itself on the precipice of historic change and one that will reaffirm it as an architectural hub and cultural center. Undertaken by Russian architectural and engineering company Gorproject, the center will house Gazprom’s new headquarters, a sports complex, conference hall, planetarium, science center and retail space.
Skyscrapers define the urban landscape. At 462 metres, Lakhta will be the country’s first Supertall. Already a new global landmark and iconic representation that is both functional and futuristic it is also a beacon of financial strength and technological advancement. “The architecture of the Lakhta Center is symbolic of a new impulse, a breakthrough in development on scale with the new century and the new millennium.” said Elena Llyukhina, Director General, Lakhta Center.
The building is under mandate to proceed at record pace and avoid the pitfalls typical in construction projects the world over; time delays and cost overruns. They want to erect a supertall faster than ever before and had to make new advances in design, planning and construction in order to do so. The digital BIM model was critical to helping attain that progress. “I believe that BIM design today is a crucial condition for implementing a large-scale project. A 3D model of our facility allows us to minimize the influence of the human factor, decrease the number of mistakes, and make transferring design solutions into steel, concrete and glass precise and fast.” Alexander Bobkov, Executive Director, Lakhta Center
Furthering the juxtaposition of technological innovation and stark, organic beauty, the double glazed facade and Leed Standard roof structure, will optimize thermal insulation and increase heating and air conditioning efficiencies in the building. However, the double curvature in the glass panels in the impressive spire could not be created with typical design tools which are limited to NURBS curves of 3 degrees, or a single curve. The Gorproject team had to find a new way to execute the stunning architectural features efficiently and accurately in the digital building model.
Project BIM Manager, Alik Sumin (BIM Academy), and Architect, Yana Shulyateva (Gorproject), built the model in Grasshopper and used Flux to pass the base of the geometry into Dynamo and used Dynamo to create the facade panels in Revit to share the model with the Structural Engineering Team. “The other plugins don’t have sufficient functionality. Flux allows full flexibility and can send all the geometric information without loss. The data structure as well as the complexity of the shapes will be preserved, allowing you to work with all generated information from one software to another. Flux was by far the easiest way to complete the work.” Alik Sumin, BIM Manager, BIM Academy
The twisting tower, with its fractal design and sleek curved facade are striking, visual references to the Baroque architecture of nearby St. Petersburg and mirrors her season changing canal-scape from flowing water to crystallized ice, angular and geometric. Set to complete in record time in 2018 it is the linchpin of a larger effort to create a more balanced urban environment. Developing a revolutionary concept for modern urban expansion outside of, but very near to, an historically and culturally critical city, emphasizing quality of life and setting a new precedent for poly-centric urban design. You can stay abreast of the impressive progress with the live webcam here: https://www.youtube.com/lakhtacenter/live .
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