Lakhta Center - Russia

Lakhta Center is a skyscraper ranking 1st in Europe and 14th on the globe. On a 17-hectare brownfield site in Lakhta, St Petersburg, RMJM was commissioned to create the Lakhta Center, formerly known as the Gazprom Group Headquarters and Business Centre. Commercial office space, as well as retail, leisure, and residential developments, are all part of the 330,000-square-meter complex.

Because of its remarkable 'barbed' style and sleek curved façade, the Lakhta Center stands out in St Petersburg's surroundings. The Headquarters is located 12 kilometers outside the city center on the Gulf of Finland's coast, allowing it to serve as an architectural focal point for the Central Business District. The organic'spire' shape of the Tower represents the strength of water, while the distinctive glass façade changes color depending on the location of the sun, creating the sense of a 'living object.'

The tower design is a natural evolution of the RMJM concept previously proposed for the Okhta site, a design inspired entirely by the city of St Petersburg with its baroque architecture and water filled canals, with the changing form of water to ice, from soft organic free-form to angular crystalline geometry, with the changing form of water to ice, from soft organic free-form to angular crystalline geometry.

The building's design includes a 'smart' glass façade that provides both natural ventilation and thermal insulation, as well as specifically developed micro-climate air conditioning. The design features the highest amount of glass ever used on a high-rise structure. When completed, the high-rise tower will have 86 aboveground and three underground levels, making it one of Russia's tallest structures. Because the foundation is so massive, it will necessitate the longest continuous concrete pouring ever done, or roughly 20,000 cubic meters.

Location: St Petersburg
Height: 462 m
Floors: 87
Architects: RMJM
Building Function: Mixed-Use
Completion: 2018