City, river, skyscraper

/ Urbanism /

Architecture, especially the architecture of high-rise buildings, can make your head spin, because it is precisely in this case that developers need a cool mind, readiness for complex solutions and an understanding of high responsibility. The higher the building, the higher the price of the error.

But, despite the engineering complexity, investment capacity and oppositional sentiments of opponents of gentrification, cities are developing in height. We talk about skyscrapers on the embankments and life around them, we explain the motives that prompt the most successful cities to build new towers by the water, and we find out the opinion of experts about the new MAYAK project developed by the development company DAYTONA GROUP for Dnipro.

Overcoming fear of heights

The phrase "vertical city" still evokes in the imagination of many dystopian artists of the beginning of the XNUMXth century, who saw the city of the future as a mechanical system of skyscrapers connected to each other by numerous bridges in the air and underground. The image of the "city as a machine", praised by radical modernists, seems quite frightening to the baby boomer generation. This fear originates from the middle of the XNUMXth century, when cities began to rapidly densify, their residents felt their helplessness in front of the real threat of turning once quiet and comfortable habitats into a faceless and narrow "mansett."

Arata Isozaki, planning City in the Air, dictated by the acute shortage of space on the Japanese islands, said: "All I need on earth is an empty plot of 10 square meters. I will install a column there, and this column will be both a structural column and a channel for vertical circulation." This is how Isozaki saw the solution to the shortage of residential and commercial spaces in the context of a romantic idea, where air symbolizes the ancient human desire for freedom from the earth. But who would be inspired to escape from reality in a gray concrete box located near other gray boxes?

A cruise liner is a modern model of multi-layeredness and compactness, which is by no means frightening. This is an autonomous micro-city with a population of several thousand people who spend time in comfortable conditions with many social contacts. This microcity can be vertical, and since we live in an era of visual and architectural diversity, it has an original design that distinguishes it from other buildings. Despite the popular theory that comfortable cities should remain within the limits of low and medium-rise buildings, the financial capitals of the world are actively stretching upward — but not with typical parallelepipeds, but with towers, each of which has its own memorable shape and its own name.

The International Council for Tall Buildings (CTBUH) published a report in which it provided statistics: if during the decade 1991–2001 an average of twelve buildings with a height of 200+ m were built annually, and in the period from 2011 to 2021, this average value was 112. In recent years, architects are increasingly designing multipurpose towers, where traditional commercial functions are combined with transport, housing, rather than monofunctional skyscrapers and public cultural objects. So, if in 2001, office buildings accounted for more than 80% of all 200-meter buildings built in the whole world, now single-office high-rises remain in the minority and account for only 46%. But the share of multifunctional, residential and hotel skyscrapers has increased accordingly. The advantage of multifunctional skyscrapers is that they help save space in densely populated city centers, while meeting the needs of not only office clerks, but also the wider community.

British development is above the clouds

Despite the fact that the British are considered fanatical traditionalists, when it comes to building their capital, they demonstrate an irrepressible passion for progress. The London skyline is a collection that includes about a hundred landmarks. And not all of them are concentrated in the City or Docklands. Dozens of office and residential skyscrapers occupied the Thames embankment. As architect David Walker explains, such a location is both a challenge to designers and inspires them: "The task of architects is to create buildings that will be worthy of a city river embankment. Buildings along the Thames are in plain sight, setting a high bar for design."

The Shard by Renzo Piano is the main landmark of the south bank of London. Photo: Fred Moon / Unsplash

The expansion of the towers to the south coast began with Renzo Piano's famous The Shard, whose spire rises to 310 m. However, this ambitious mixed-use project almost failed. Office and commercial premises were quickly sold out, but a dozen luxury apartments, worth up to 50 million pounds sterling, remained unsold for several years. Then they allegedly became the property of expatriate sheikhs from the countries of the East, however, British journalists have not yet clarified this for sure. But London snobs-millionaires were in no hurry to move to the south, preferring inhabited Belgravia, Chelsea and Kensington.

British developers decided: perhaps the fact that The Shard is located in the heart of the quarter played a role, and they turned their attention to the embankment of the southern bank.

Buildings along the Thames are in plain sight, setting a high bar for design

A group of modern skyscrapers that have appeared on the Albert Embankment are part of a major regeneration plan for Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea. Until the 2000s, the section along the south bank of the Thames from Lambeth Bridge in the north to Battersea Power Station was an unremarkable area, built up with identical office boxes and industrial enterprises. Now this is the largest regeneration zone in the center of London, promising 2030 thousand by 18. apartments, creation of 22 thousand new jobs, construction of several new schools, development of infrastructure.

Poster: Rebecca Pymar

At the end of September 2021, two new metro stations on the Northern branch, which meet all the requirements of inclusivity, have already opened - Battersea Power Station, which was decorated with the Art on the Underground installation by the artist Alexander da Cunha, and Nine Elms.

The center of culture and public life will become (or rather, has already become) the former Battersea power station - a unique example of industrial architecture and design by the architect Giles Gilbert Scott. In 2014, when the authorities finally agreed on the redevelopment project, which involves the transformation of the building into a multi-purpose center with the development of the adjacent territory with commercial and residential buildings, the station was in a deplorable state. In the redevelopment project, which includes several stages, several large architectural companies are involved, including the firms of Norman Foster and Frank Hera. In 2019, a public square in front of the station was opened, and in May 2021, the first residents moved into the houses built around it.

Aerial view of the Nine Elms development area. In the foreground is Battersea Power Station.

In parallel with the work on Battersea, the towers took over the embankment in Vauxhall. Plans for a high-rise building first worried members of the British Parliament, who complained that the view of London from the windows of the Parliament building would radically change with the appearance of a high-rise cluster in Vauxhall. And he really changed radically.

The first to appear in 2014 was the residential skyscraper St George Wharf Tower with a height of 181 m, which for a long time was considered the tallest residential building in the United Kingdom. However, the 220-meter Newfoundland Tower and the 233-meter Landmark Pinnacle (Squire and Partners) on the Dog Island embankment (designed by architect Horden Cherra Li) have already broken this record.

A cluster of modern skyscrapers to appear on Albert Quay is part of a major regeneration plan for Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea

Closer to the Lambeth Bridge, the completed 26-story Corniche towers by Foster + Partners, the 28-story Dumont hotel by David Walker Architects, and Merano Residences — a 28-story elite mixed-use complex by Rogers Stirk Harbor & Partners — are being settled.

And on the way is a new cluster of Vauxhall Island Towers in Vauxhall — a pair of 53- and 42-story skyscrapers connected by a common podium. This project was developed at Zaha Hadid Architects, and when, after several years of debate, it was approved, Patrick Schumacher was relieved to say: "For ZHA, this project represents a breakthrough, demonstrating that we can develop and implement the planning of complex projects in London." Today, this is the company's largest project in Great Britain.

Vauxhall Island Towers are a pair of 53- and 42-story skyscrapers designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the studio's largest object in Great Britain. Image source: Zaha Hadid Architects and Slashcube
A high-rise development on the Albert Embankment: Corniche by Foster + Partners, Dumont by David Walker Architects and Merano Residences by Rogers Stirk Harbor & Partners. Image source: Foster + Partners

Has this unrestrained development affected life in the area? Absolutely. Are there any dissatisfied? Naturally, there are many of them. Many original inhabitants of Vauxhall were satisfied with the quiet and leisurely life in the geographical center of London, and they sincerely consider the processes of gentrification and the rapid movement of money, people and construction equipment undesirable.

The city's planning inspectorate admits that the height of some towers exceeds the 150-meter limit established for this area of ​​London. Nevertheless, most of the development plans were supported, including by the mayor Sadik Khan, taking into account all the advantages of the development of the area and 30% of the developer's contribution to affordable housing. "Affordable apartments" in Polish means housing with a reduced rental rate or Shared Ownership. In this case, Shared Ownership is joint ownership of real estate with a housing and construction cooperative. The buyer owns the lot, which he buys with the available funds or as a mortgage, and he pays rent for the lot owned by ZhSK. To stimulate the real estate market, the British government developed the Help to Buy program.

Landmark Pinnacle is a skyscraper designed by the Squire and Partners studio. Image source: © DBOX for CPL Landmark Pinnacle

In addition, developers are generously investing in accompanying infrastructure projects — the laying of new transport lines, bicycle paths, the development of embankments and parks. By 2030, the area of ​​new public spaces will reach 20 hectares - largely due to the creation of parks on the site of abandoned sites around Nine Elms and a linear park that will stretch along the entire territory and end with a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Thames in Pymlico. The project of the bridge has already been developed by the Danish architects Bystrup, who won the international competition. The Riverside Walk promenade along the Thames past the St George Wharf residential complex is recognized as one of the best places on the South Bank, offering stunning views of Westminster.

Chicago and hundreds of meters of ambition

A person who hates skyscrapers could not live in Chicago. At first glance, it is paradoxical that a city located on a plain, where there were no barriers to expansion, became a family of skyscrapers. But it so happened that it was in Chicago that the world's first skyscraper on a steel frame was built, Otis' safety elevators were tested here, and the foundations of the international style in architecture were formed here. Based on the main principle of modernism "form always follows function" and continuing the ideas of Henry Hopson Richardson and William Le Baron Jenna, Louis Henry Sullivan formed the Chicago School of Architecture. Clean lines, a clear composition, the absence of decorative details, as well as many floors and ambitions. After all, the tower is a symbol of the competitive struggle of cities.

The skyscraper should stand where the majority of high-rise buildings are already located in order to create a group effect

Frank Lloyd Wright, who went down in history as the author of flat houses, designed for Chicago "Illinois" - a 526-story spire building with a total height of 1600 m. Wright was confident that the technologies of the mid-XNUMXth century. allow to erect and safely operate such a building. The project remained on paper, but inspired a whole galaxy of architects who chose the creation of high-rise buildings as their specialization.

The St. Regis Chicago is a 101-story skyscraper in downtown Chicago designed by Studio Gang. Photo: Serhii Chrucky

Despite the pandemic and the global economic downturn, the Chicago skyline has been decorated with new towers over the past year and a half. The St. Regis Chicago with a crystal profile is a 365 m high supertall designed by the famous Jeanne Gang, the founder of the Studio Gang company. One Chicago — with two towers of 49 and 76 floors with commercial and office spaces in the common ground, designed by Goettsch Partners and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture — has already been completed to a design height of 295 m and will be completed in 2022.

Multifunctional complex Wolf Point East, consisting of a series of skyscrapers

The 60-story Wolf Point East residential building and Salesforce Tower office tower by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects & Pappageorge Haymes Partners complete the high-rise cluster in Wolf Point on the Chicago Riverfront. However, from the upper floors of the complex there is a view not only of the river, but also of Lake Michigan.

110 North Wacker, or as it is called the Bank of America Tower, is a skyscraper that forms an all-season embankment, designed by the Goettsch Partners studio. Image: © Goettsch Partners

And on the South bank of the river, a new class A office building appeared - 110 North Wacker, which has already been awarded the International Architecture Awards for design and energy efficiency. Like the majority of Chicago skyscrapers, the building is built close to the river, but stands on wooden supports. This method made it possible to form a covered pedestrian embankment along the river.

Dnipro and MAYAK

If New York, Chicago, and London are bold enough to redesign the urban landscape, sometimes integrating not just individual objects, but also whole clusters of high-rise buildings built into historically formed buildings, then what (apart from the economy) is holding Ukrainian cities back?

Perhaps large regional centers - Kharkov, Odessa, Dnipro - will not soon expect exponential growth of the urban population, as happened with the capital. But if you are an optimist and believe in the active development of cities, then you need to prepare for the fact that one day the number of inhabitants in the same Dnieper will grow many times. All the more so because the experts prophesy to us the inevitable flowering and increasing influence of the "18 temporary cities".

Following the principle professed by British and Chicago developers — to build towers by the water — the DAYTONA GROUP development company announced in the spring of 2021 plans to build a high-rise multifunctional building MAYAK — a 32-story tower on a four-story stylobate — on an empty plot above Sycheslavskaya embankment of the Dnieper. (Read more about the project in the article "Dnieper towers. MAYAK on the longest embankment in Europe» in volume 31 of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA). The DAYTONA GROUP is confident that the new landmark should meet the ambitions of an actively developing regional center and plan to implement the best practices of modern placemaking in the project: create an active pedestrian zone, a green border, a connection with the embankment and the territory of the Festival Pier.

Roman Romanets, architect and co-founder of the Lviv group of companies AVR Development

Roman Romanets, architect and co-founder of the Lviv group of companies AVR Development, describes his impressions of visiting the Dnipro as follows: "Very recently, I visited the wonderful city of Dnipro for the first time. I managed to examine in detail both the right and left banks. I am impressed by its scale. Land within the city is a great value, so the potential of this city is incredible. I think that over time, residential and public buildings will naturally push production out of the city. In addition, the Dnipro has a cool bonus in the form of a river that can serve as both a recreational space and an infrastructure facility. Therefore, it is quite logical to use this strong point when planning new architectural objects."

Developers are investing generously in infrastructure projects — the laying of new transport lines, bicycle paths, the development of embankments and parks

However, Roman Romanets does not believe that Dnipro should copy the path of other developing cities and try to become a "Ukrainian Chicago": "My impressions during my visits to Chicago are ambiguous. On the one hand, I was impressed by the business activity and scale of skyscrapers, which I recognized from popular series and architectural magazines, and on the other hand, thoughts arose - is this city comfortable to live in? Regarding "Ukrainian Chicago", I think that we should not follow someone's decision in the complex. It is worth concentrating on studying the advantages and disadvantages in order to apply strong decisions taking into account our realities, and not to repeat the mistakes that someone has already made somewhere."

Image source: DAYTONA GROUP

DAYTONA GROUP is far from following a cargo cult, and, as the company claims, takes into account all the specifics and context of an industrial Ukrainian city. But at the same time, they do not delay the implementation of the project. In July, preparatory work has already begun on the site allocated for the construction of MAYAK. At the same time, the company polished the details of the project, for example, it was decided to replace the aluminum panels on the facade with enamel - colored tempered glass. It will enhance the effect of the reflected game — the building is reflected in the river, the river and the sky are reflected in the facades.

Nikolay Kabluka, founder of the Expolight company

The lighting designers of the Expolight company will be responsible for the night image of the new landmark. "The coastline of the Dnieper and the panorama of the right bank in general is what the city can rightly be proud of. This is a recognizable, complex landscape, which many cities simply do not have, - shares his opinion Nikolay Kabluka, founder of the Expolight company. — This recognizable profile is formed by the "Krutogorny" complex, designed by the architect Alexander Dolnyk, with whom we cooperated very closely. After carefully discussing all the details with Dolnyk, we developed and implemented a lighting project for the main objects of the complex — the "Bashny" residential complex, the "Amsterdam" residential complex, and the amphitheater. By the way, the lighting of the "Menorah" complex, which is one of the dominant features of the evening panorama, the objects of the CASCADE PLAZA residential complex, the "Katerinoslavsky" residential complex, is also the work of Expolight. In fact, we created a light image for the center of Dnipro. And we always pay special attention to the complexity of the silhouette, as well as the hierarchy of objects. Of course, we carefully analyzed the MAYAK project and wondered whether this object would look organic."

Initially, in the architectural environment of the Dnipro, the choice of location caused many questions - how relevant is the new dominant in the existing architectural ensemble of the Krutogorny Descent, the master plan of which was developed by Alexander Dolnyk?

"Yes, according to the original concept of the district, a new dominant was not envisaged. Having studied the situation more deeply - in the light panorama, and even in the daytime panorama of the city - we came to the conclusion that the MAYAK tower will not worsen the general view, and, on the contrary, it can become one of the new symbols of the Dnieper, - says Mykola Kabluka. — The established context fully allows placing a new object. It is not bulky, and I am impressed by the fact that it is located at the very bottom of the slope. This is not a massive object in the foreground, but a thin vertical one, which will become a rather elegant dominant. The very name MAYAK means "landmark". I like this tall elongated structure."

Nikolai Kabluka already has an idea how to "inscribe" a new landmark with light into the night landscape of the Dnipro Embankment: "We are discussing options for lighting this object. And we got the idea to extend the vertical narrow line even higher with a light beam. Enhance the image with white static light, creating a light column going upwards into infinity. Our modeling shows that this element will successfully fit into the overall concept. The evening panorama of the Dnieper will only benefit from the appearance of a new agent - bright, but at the same time tactical. During the day, due to the reflected play created by the facade panels, it will dissolve in the sky, looking ephemeral against the background of dense stone buildings. If you illuminate this object just as ephemerally, imitating the glare of the evening sun, you will get a very interesting effect both at dusk and in the dark. After thinking about it, I tried the project on the general lighting master plan, I did not see any contradictions - this dominant could logically complete the ensemble, while not closing either the residential complex "Amsterdam" or Krutogorny as a whole."

Hiroki Matsuura, co-founder of the Dutch architectural practice MASA Architects

However, is it permissible in the modern aesthetic and urban paradigm to change the horizon familiar to citizens by integrating a new high-rise into the existing building? In response to PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA's question, Hiroki Matsuura, co-founder of the Dutch architectural practice MASA Architects, drew attention to a historical principle: "There is no place in the world where skyscrapers would stand contextually / originally. They always appear as fully realized elements of the city. Whether they are in the city or not is a highly urban / social / historical question, with which some always agree, and others do not.

But there is one important truth in this aspect. The skyscraper shows its optimal qualities in the conditions of the group effect. There are hardly any good examples of a single / independent skyscraper in the context of a low or medium density environment. Designing a skyscraper that stands alone and admires like Mount Fuji is an almost impossible task. In the same way, in New York and many other cities of the world, a group of multi-plan towers creates the beauty of the skyline and urban landscape, regardless of the individual design of skyscrapers. Therefore, the skyscraper should stand where the majority of high-rise buildings are already located in order to create this group effect under the condition of strict urban planning.

Designing a skyscraper that stands alone and admires like Mount Fuji is an almost impossible task

Khiroky emphasizes that when it comes to high-rise buildings, the responsibility of architects and planners for the result increases several times: "The responsibility for the appearance / aesthetics of towers is very high due to their significant visual impact on the environment, even from a long distance. In order to compensate for the natural negative impact during the construction of a high-rise building, it is ideal if the new towers will have high energy efficiency indicators."

Panels made of enamel - colored tempered glass - will create a play reflected on the facade of MAYAK.

Roman Romanets believes that the planning structure and "urban fabric" of the post-Soviet industrial center is quite flexible for the integration of new accent objects: "Moving through the city, I got the impression that the Dnipro has a fairly good transport scheme, which, with proper modernization, can turn into a modern and convenient way movement by both private and public transport, and this is the basis for the development of the city in modern conditions. Accordingly, such "urban fabric" is absolutely suitable for the development and integration of new objects. Of course, it is desirable to implement these processes with the active involvement of the city community and professionals in the field of architecture and urban planning."

DAYTONA GROUP is far from following the cargo cult — and, as the company claims, takes into account all the specifics and context of an industrial Ukrainian city

Since it is interesting to watch the development of any large project, we plan to return to the discussion of the Dnieper MAYAK — at least to check whether expectations and reality coincided. Once at Jinn Gan, who designed supertalls Aqua Tower and The St. Regis Chicago, was asked: "Why do people like skyscrapers so much in Chicago?", to which she answered: "In Chicago, the public appreciates tall buildings, because it's a flat area and we don't have mountains." This quote can be perceived as a metaphor - people draw energy from overcoming a height, and if this height is not in front of their eyes - they create it. High-rise buildings can be treated differently, but even those who prefer life in a flat city often dream of looking at it from a height.

Image source: DAYTONA GROUP

 

Text: Iryna Isachenko