PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: To what extent will the pandemic slow down vertical progress and how will new waves and mutations of the virus affect the perspective of high-rise construction?
Alexander Nasykovsky: High-rise construction has always been and remains a sign of the economic development of the country and the city. Skyscrapers have long become part of the architecture of world capitals, and architects and developers compete with the design and uniqueness of the concepts of high-rise buildings. According to the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Environment (CTBUH), 2019 was a record year for the construction of skyscrapers: 26 towers over 300 m high.
Alexander Nasykovsky, founder and managing partner of the DIM group of companies
The 530-meter Tianjin CTF Finance Center by SOM became the super-tallest. It is the seventh tallest skyscraper in the world along with the sister tower of the Guangzhou CTF Financial Center.
At the same time, 2020 showed a sharp decline in high-rise construction primarily due to the pandemic. The total number of skyscrapers fell by 20%. In the last hour, 106 buildings with a height of more than 200 m were built, compared to 133 in 2019. This is the lowest figure since 2014.
As for Kyiv, overall demand for high-rise projects will remain, so vertical construction will continue. The main reason, of course, is urbanization and the need to concentrate a large number of commercial and residential premises on a limited area of land, to create infrastructure for a modern citizen.
For us, ergonomics, comfort, design, health and safety have always been and remain in the first place. There are high-rise projects in the portfolio of the DIM group. These are always complex infrastructure solutions with a unique design that offer qualitatively new conditions for life and work.
Undoubtedly, the pandemic made adjustments not only in the construction process itself (difficulties with the supply of materials, social distance, quarantine restrictions, etc.), but also in buyer preferences. We felt this when the demand for our country projects and projects in the green part of the city increased several times. The new trend — not to aspire to the center, but to accumulate the center near your home — is gaining momentum. People have learned to create an ecosystem around the house for quality work and life, and we, as developers, caught this trend and entered the market with a ready-made offer. We create a city in a city. A completely independent and self-sufficient cluster for living in the most ecologically friendly place. This is a unique combination, where 50% is a forest, and 50% all the necessary infrastructure is within minutes' reach. And the design of the new quarter is unique for Ukraine. The best architects worked on it. The apartments turned out to be as bright and functional as possible. All the most modern approaches in construction are concentrated here - it is a yard without cars thanks to underground parking lots, and developed infrastructure, and much more.
The pandemic has shown that point building has outlived itself. Developers prefer comprehensive development of the territory. People need a kind of five-star hotel with well-thought-out infrastructure and a powerful ecological component - now everyone is thinking about health. Within the old boundaries of the metropolis, there are fewer and fewer suitable sites, so many cities, including Kyiv, are increasingly resorting to a linear, rather than a vertical, development model.
Therefore, suburbanization is a trend in the evolution of cities. And developers must create the best conditions for a comfortable life for people, paying special attention to infrastructure and convenient connections to popular transport routes.
Residential complex A136 Highlight Tower. Project of a high-rise complex by DIM
PM: How justified is high-rise construction in the center of the city? Is it permissible to "stand up for the blue line", and if so, in what cases?
A.N.: High-rise construction makes it possible to solve the problem of providing housing for the rapidly growing urban population. The only question is how well the project plan corresponds to the design of the city, what ecological and technological innovations will be used during construction. All over the world, high-rise buildings decorate capitals, and designers compete for the best project.
Concepts, functionality and design today play a key role not only in high-rise buildings, but also in low-rise multi-functional complexes. Advanced technological and architectural solutions make high-rise construction increasingly stable and safe, and the rich internal infrastructure creates a prototype of a whole solo city and allows you to satisfy any needs here and now. At the same time, we achieve compactness, which is so necessary during the rapid growth of densely populated megacities.
«The task of competent developers is to use advanced technologies, knowledge and innovative solutions to create the most comfortable living conditions»
A vivid example of quality transformations in high-rise construction is the A136 Highlight Tower residential complex, which is a 33-story building 100 m high with concise, regular geometric shapes, clear, restrained facade lines and a large amount of glazing. It uses an ultra-modern ventilation system that cleans the air from the street from harmful gases, smog, unpleasant odors and allergens, premium elevator equipment for the competent distribution of human flows, "smart" engineering with a high margin of safety and a level of automation of management from the world's top manufacturers. The complex is located in the very center of the city. This project is functionally thought out and vertically diversely zoned: there is a business space for meetings and work, co-working and co-living, lounge areas for rest, communication and social interaction with neighbors, a premium fitness club, children's infrastructure — everything that a modern person needs and even more.
As for the "blue line", its main task is to prevent the chaotic development of the city in a visual and aesthetic context. If we do not limit the silhouette and height of buildings, it will be very difficult to create a unified urban design of the city and preserve the historical heritage. This or that height is not an end in itself. The main task is to create a comfortable environment for people, which is why the differentiation of project solutions is so important, taking into account the location, built-up area, urban and natural landscape.
Residential complex A136 Highlight Tower: 33-storey building with a height of 100 m. Project of a high-rise complex by DIM
PM: Can the vertical growth of cities solve such urgent problems as heavy traffic, shortage of affordable housing, deterioration of the ecological situation? Or, on the contrary, will it aggravate them?
A.N.: Cities will grow upward, because the number of people on earth will continue to increase. The task of competent developers is to use advanced technologies, knowledge and innovative solutions to create the most comfortable living conditions. We are talking about both high-rise construction and low-rise complexes in ecological zones. We must satisfy the demand in the best possible way, creating apartments in which you will want to live.
The vertical growth of houses in the center of the city will definitely help to solve a number of problems facing humanity, including the reduction of CO2 emissions due to walking distance to the necessary locations, the economy of urban space, and the expansion of locations needed by people for work and recreation, and new urban communications
But at the same time, the expansion of cities and strengthening of green zones, infrastructural saturation of territories remote from the center also solves a number of important problems from the point of view of sustainable development. Due to the formation of new centers of life with shops, kindergartens, cafes, restaurants, offices, etc., we will significantly decongest the city center. This will have a favorable effect not only on traffic, but also on the environmental situation.
A terrace with a bar and a summer cinema in the residential complex A136 Highlight Tower
A courtyard with a lounge area, fireplaces and a coffee point in the A136 Highlight Tower residential complex
PM: Why didn't the predictions of the futurists of the early 2th century, who predicted that the second industrial revolution would lead to the emergence of multi-level cities, come true? What will be the skyscrapers of the future in 5-XNUMX decades?
A.N.: The creation of a multidimensional vertical city directly depends on the country's economic well-being, political, social and cultural context. For example, the Japanese bureau Noiz presented a project of a vertical city — the Shibuya Hyper Cast skyscraper. There, each floor is a separate area with entertainment, living and office areas, and between them - greenhouses and urban farms. Elevator shafts are equipped inside the building not only for moving people, but also for drones.
Another example: a tower-city in China by Zaha Hadid Architects, where, in addition to an office and residential cluster, a metro station will be integrated, a multi-level landscape park with meadows and recreation areas, and gardens with aquaponics will be created on all terraces, water recycling systems will also be provided and solar energy. As you know, it is still too early to tell us about such a thing in Ukraine.
However, the movement towards the trend of complex vertical planning has nevertheless emerged.
It is quite likely that in 50 years, underground and aerial routes will be used to move around the city of the future, high-rise buildings will offer high-tech solutions using "smart engineering", a complex environment for life, thereby reducing the need for cars, and thus reducing the negative impact on ecology And high-rise construction will gravitate towards green technologies, the use of roofs for placing gardens, solar panels and windmills on them, in order to fully satisfy all the residents' needs for food and energy.
