THE CRYSTAL BIG TOP 05/27/08

Words :: Will Jones // Images :: Foster + Partners

It has been mocked as an upside down ice cream cone, likened to a tent and described as looking like a Christmas tree. There are many who don’t like the design but also a vociferous army of admirers, shouting its praises as the re-emergence of statement-making architecture in Russia.Crystal Island certainly makes you sit up and take notice. At 1476 feet tall – about three feet higher than the Empire State Building – and with a total floor area of 26,910,000 square feet, the scale of this design for a self-contained city within a city is unprecedented. Its architect, a man with an ego to match this gargantuan building is Norman Foster. His firm, Foster and Partners is already working on a number of projects in Russia including Russia Tower, which will be Europe’s tallest skyscraper (2007 feet tall) on its completion in 2012.
But this tall tower will pale into insignificance when Crystal Island becomes a reality; the accolade of Europe’s tallest has never really meant a great deal in skyscraper speak anyway! Crystal Island has just been awarded preliminary planning permission. It is to be built on the Nagatino Peninsula on the banks of the Moscow River, and, when complete, its conical external shell will enclose the largest volume on earth. Inside will be hotels (3000 rooms), 900 serviced apartments, museums, theatres, a school for 500 pupils, shops, offices, spas, cinemas; everything your upwardly mobile Muscovite could ask for.
“Residents are able to work and live within a densely planned area where every amenity is within easy walking distance,” says Foster. “The mixed use design also presents a strong case for energy balance, with individual components using energy at different times, while reinforcing the breadth of economic and social activity in the area.”
The building’s form will rise from a newly landscaped park, spiraling in converse directions to form a diagonal grid. Its skin is proposed as facetted glazing that includes a vertical louver system to screen from the sun. Controllable ventilation slots will enable the building to ‘breathe’ and ensure that temperatures remain moderate inside no matter what the weather is like outside. In addition, the design includes strategies for on-site renewable and low carbon energy generation; a pleasing departure from the majority of fossil-fuel dependant buildings currently going up in oil-rich Russia.

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