Okhta Tower, St. Petersburg | RMJM

The Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom Neft chose this high rise building, designed by the UK based RMJM Architects, that is to be built in St. Petersburg and will serve as the new Gazprom headquarters. At 396m tall, it will be the tallest building in Europe and the greenest skyscraper in the world. RMJM are working together with consulting engineers Battle McCarthy to make the building as energy efficient as it can possibly get in an environment where the temperatures fluctuate throughout the year and fall as deep as 30°C below zero. The building is wrapped into two layers of glazed glass and consists of an inner core and an outer atrium that will serve as a buffer zone, providing the building with enough natural ventilation, thermal insulation and light. The project will also have specialized water, heating and ventilation solutions and an intelligent facade. As you can probably imagine, this proposal was and remains very controversial. Tall buildings and slums seem to be inevitable in modern urbanism. But as the undertaking of this project will surely start soon, I can only say it’s better than building the monster pillow theater building ‘designed’ by Eric Owen Moss – are you joking, this isn’t Disney World. Those who have been at the ORIS conference in Zagreb should know what I’m talking about. Never in my life have I felt so utterly bored in a lecture. I thought the chair was going to get the munchies, close in on itself and start digesting me. And I wouldn’t even resist.

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(via: Inhabitat)