Emporis Takes a Look at the European Skyline
By Penny on Jun 16, 2014
The tallest buildings in Europe seem to be springing up all over Russia, according to a recent Emporis report that reviewed the European Skyline.
By 2018, seven of the continent’s tallest towers will be set in Russia, including the Lakhta Center (image above), which will replace the Mercury City Tower as the tallest in Europe. Stretching to 1,519 feet, this supertall tower is a mixed-use, non-residential building that will serve the residents of Saint Petersburg as a scientific and educational complex with offices, a hotel, sports and leisure facilities, and an outdoor amphitheatre. World-class architects RMJM developed this building as the new headquarters of OAO Gazprom, which is currently one of the biggest energy companies in the world. Almost as tall as Toronto’s CN Tower, which reaches 1,814 feet into the sky, the Lakhta Center is shaped like a glass flare with an ultra-modern, spired exterior that tapers off near the top.
Vostok - via Emporis
Still in Moscow, following in Lakhta fashion (though not at all overshadowed) is the Vostok, which will reach 1,184 feet. This 94-storey skyscraper is designed by the architects at Federation Towers and will feature two high-rise buildings, providing offices, hotel suites, apartments, restaurants and cafes to residents by the end of 2015. Coming in third is Moscow’s the OKO Apartment Tower, extending a vertical 1,154 feet, featuring spaces for new offices, businesses and residential homes.
OKO - via Emporis
The maturation of all these projects will make Russia Europe’s skyscraper capital, with five of the top ten tallest buildings on the continent already located there. Other supertall skyscrapers can be expected to pop up in places across Europe, like Istanbul and the United Kingdom. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (2,716 feet), which is approximately 1,197 feet taller than the estimated height of Russia’s Lakhta Center, will soon be replaced as the world’s tallest tower by the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, an astounding mile-high project expected for completion by 2019.
Do you think it’s time for Toronto to charge in the unspoken, global competition to have the tallest skyscraper? Or is it just vanity height? For further reading, check out what David Pontarini from Hariri Pontarini Architects (the architects behind the much anticipated 1 Yonge project) has to say about supertall towers.
Feature image via Emporis
