The OKO of Moscow
The company Capital Group presented one of the largest and the most important projects in the Moscow International Business Center (MIB C) “Moscow-City” – the skyscraper OKO . It is the company’s second similar construction in the metropolitan business center. The first one is the City of Capitals. Its total area is 289 000 square meters and it has already become a significant and organic element of this high-altitude district of the capital. As the authors define it, the OKO is “the project of the future where the space itself inspires extraordinary undertakings”.
The company came up with the idea of creating such a project several years ago, they started working on it in 2007 and building it took them 3 years. The choice of the designers was determined by the intention of the Capital Group management to use solely top players. That is why the company signed a contract with the architect bureau Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) that is the leader in projects connected to building high-altitude constructions. Throughout the 70-year history of the company there have been about 10 000 objects in 50 countries (including Great Britain, China, Canada, the RSA, Australia) built according to their projects; among them 183 skyscrapers; the bureau received 800 awards and was twice awarded the title of the “Architectural Firm of the Year”.
According to the Director of Special Projects Management Division of the Capital Group Company Mr. Ozgur Akpinar, SOM has long been a brand, the trademark of the bureau that is assimilated with the American Institute of Architects being 828 meter high Burj Khalifa better known as Burj Dubai. Among other famous projects there are the very first Lever House, Freedom Tower in New York that is still under construction, Willis Tower and Trump Tower in Chicago, the 63 Building in Seoul, China World Trade Center Tower 3 in Beijing and many others. Each of these skyscrapers has its own peculiarity.
For instance, the world’s highest building Burj Khlifa (828m high) resembles a stalactite. As for the project in Moscow, however, the American designers confirm they took interest in it since they had to find a unique design concept for a small construction footprint. It was a highly challenging task they dealt with perfectly well. The OKO was meant to be a uniform construction: the 85-storey skyscraper with apartments and the 49-storey tower spring up breathtakingly high from the transparent crystal. The podium of the building with its edges reflecting in the facades of other simply and rigorously built highrisers is most significant.
In their turn the peculiar edges of the towers themselves amplify the effect of verticality offering the panoramic perspective of space. “It took a long time to adjust the project, - says Ozgur Akpinar. - However, Western architects work this way. They attempt to realize the idea, the image and the content of the object in their creative perception and then the project has to be brought into compliance with the existing norms and rules. The required maintenance is to pass the state expertise, to provide follow-up revision since the material chosen needs to be registered and many other seemingly minor things.” No matter whether it was good or bad but during the negotiation stage that started in 2007 and finished in 2009 the situation in world’s financial markets was highly instable. However, in the Capital Group they do not link these factors together.
The existing proof of the company’s economic safety factor is the building of the International Financial Complex “The City of Capitals” that was successfully finalized during that period. Moreover, there were a lot of things going on in section 16A that was designated to house the OKO: there were 3 geological investigation campaigns (there were 3 changes of the rules), the underground floors were built by the diaphragm wall method (the depth of the foundation pits under the 2 towers being 11 meters and under the parking lot being way more – 22 meters). The main thing, however, is that the pause in the launch of another project allowed the management of the company have a closer look at the new site on the map of Moscow that very quickly became so vivid.
During that period contractors resumed work on other objects of the MIBC that was previously put on hold. The Capital Group also finished building its first high-riser in “Moscow City”. The experience they gained while working on this project showed the company that clients were first of all greatly interested in completely designed apartments. This is how the building can come to life in an extremely short time. This factor was top priority when building the IFC. It is beneficial for both the residents and the tenants of office spaces as well as infrastructure operators. In one word, the commercial needs of the market and the marketing studies led to it that the previously approved concept had to be reviewed and filled with a more modern content – to have a leap in the future as it was.
That’s why the management of the company decided to change the original concept and functionality of the project. For instance, they had planned to build a hotel that would be located above the third building of the complex – the parking lot. When the project was revised, they included the parking lot as well as the service apartments into the residential housing. At the same time the public zones of the complex broadened to a great degree. The designers decided that the roof of the reduced parking lot should be operated – there was an opportunity to place tennis courts and recreational areas on it. There surely were some architectural things that had to be modified. As an example, the hotel zone required a separate entrance. Additional security measures had to be implemented since there was another change of fire regulations. The designers also took into consideration the comments and wishes of the world’s leading operator of luxury hotels Morgan Hotel Group that was part of the international team of the OKO.
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Text by Alexander Maximov, photos by the Capital Group