The Evolution Tower () is a
skyscraper located on plots 2 and 3 of the
MIBC in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. The 55-story office building has a height of and a total area of . Noted in Moscow for its futuristic DNA-like shape, the building was designed by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
architect
Tony Kettle
Tony Kettle is a British architect best known for designing the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland and leading the RMJM team at the Lakhta Centre, Gazprom Headquarters in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Kettle founded his own international architecture fir ...
in collaboration with
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
's Professor of Art Karen Forbes. Construction of the tower began in 2011 and was completed in late 2014. In 2016,
Transneft
Joint Stock Company Transneft (russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world. Transneft is operating over of trunk pipeline ...
bought the Evolution Tower for
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1 billion to establish its headquarters.
The skyscraper is the
twelfth-tallest building in Russia, and the
20th-tallest building in Europe.
History
Initially, companies Snegiri Development and Inteko led by Alexander Chigirinsky and
Yelena Baturina
Yelena Nikolayevna Baturina (russian: Елена Николаевна Батурина; born 8 March 1963) is an international billionaire businesswoman and a philanthropist of Russian origin. She is based in London. She was married to Yury Luz ...
respectively had planned on the site to construct a skyscraper named the City Palace, also named the Wedding Palace. However, the project was put on hold when the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
struck. In 2010, Inteko sold the plot to businessman
Viktor Rashnikov and his partner Nader Nader. The idea of an office building was then favored over the City Palace and thus resulted in the Evolution Tower.
Turkish company
Rönesans Holding
Rönesans Holding is a Turkish contracting and investment company operating in construction, real estate development, energy, industrial facilities and health. The company operates in Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Mi ...
was to be the general contractor of the new plan.
Construction of the Evolution Tower began in 2011. In August 2011,
Gazprombank
Gazprombank (russian: Газпромбанк), or GPB (JSC), is a private-owned Russian bank, the third largest bank in the country by assets. Since November 2014, Yuri Shamalov's Gazfond is its largest shareholder.
The bank’s principal busine ...
opened a 7-year credit line with a volume of
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
345 million to the developer for the completion of the skyscraper. On October 6, 2014, the tower was completed and put into operation. The exact cost of the building is unknown, but
RBK quoted an expert believing it to be between US$446 million to US$520 million.
In 2016,
Transneft
Joint Stock Company Transneft (russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world. Transneft is operating over of trunk pipeline ...
bought the Evolution Tower for
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1 billion to establish its headquarters.
Design
The Evolution Tower is designed by Tony Kettle and Karen Forbes with assistance later from Philipp Nikandrov, chief architect of engineering firm GORPROJECT.
The design is similar to the double helix-shape of
DNA. This is possibly why the building reflects two ribbons wrapping around each other: symbolizing the inter-linking of individuals, generations, and families.
[http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2844-upward-spiral-the-story-of-the-evolution-tower.pdf ]
The plot covers an area of 2.55 hectares, of which most are
landscaped
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...
into a terrace while the rest is used for the tower. The tower and the terrace are built on a three-level
stylobate
In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...
designated the Evolution Gallery with an area of . There are exits from the tower that lead directly to the
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...
station
Vystavochnaya
Vystavochnaya (russian: Выставочная) is a station on the Filyovskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It was opened on 10 September 2005, and was called Delovoy Tsentr (russian: Деловой центр, "Business Centre") before 1 June 2009. ...
and
Bagration Bridge. The roof of the stylobate is made exploitable for fountains, terraces, and cafes. The difference in heights between the top of the stylobate and the embankment is compensated by stairs protected by canopies. Under the stylobate is a multi-level parking area for 1,292 cars.
Each of the 51 floors of the tower is rotated 3 degrees relative to the previous one, so the building is "swirled" by more than 150 degrees. In this way, the central core and eight columns with 15-meter spans between the axes remain strictly vertical all the way up. The spiral geometry is repeated only by four corners of the building. For the project, a self-lifting form-work system was designed, combining the functions of wind protection and working platform. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve the floor's strength in 6 days. The top of the tower is crowned with two asymmetric "arches" spanning 41 m, visually uniting the two opposite facades. They were produced in
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, and delivered to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
The Evolution Tower uses the single-glazing facade with cold-mirror SunGuard High Performance glass from
Guardian Industries
Guardian Industries is a privately held industrial manufacturer of glass, automotive and building products based in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
The company manufactures float glass, fabricated glass products, fiberglass insulation and building materia ...
for its windows. A continuous band of curved glazing with an area of with a constant inclination in the corners of the tower (approximately 14 degrees to the vertical) creates an optical illusion, reflecting Moscow panoramas turned upside down at an angle of 90 degrees to the horizon.
The building uses
Thyssen Krupp's elevator system: two elevator cabins independently circulate in one elevator shaft, which reduced the number of elevator shafts from twelve to ten.
Space of the Evolution Tower would be utilized primarily for office purposes but there would also be shopping galleries, boutiques, restaurants, cafes, a supermarket and banquet halls.
Nominations
The Evolution Tower earned the 2nd place title in the Emporis Skyscraper Award 2015 competition for world’s best skyscraper. It became a finalist for the 2016 MIPIM Awards and for the 2015 CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards. In addition, it was voted
Moscow's best office building in 2015, received the grand-prix and national award in the 2015 Glass in Architecture competition, first prize of 2015 national NOPRIZ Awards competition, and voted in the 2016 CRE Award Moscow as Moscow's best class A office building. In 2014 the Evolution Gallery mall (phase 1 of development) was awarded by the city authorities as
Moscow's best multi-use building.
Management
Evolution Tower project's original owner was the company City Palace, which is owned by companies Snegiri Development and Inteko led by Alexander Chigirinsky and
Yelena Baturina
Yelena Nikolayevna Baturina (russian: Елена Николаевна Батурина; born 8 March 1963) is an international billionaire businesswoman and a philanthropist of Russian origin. She is based in London. She was married to Yury Luz ...
respectively. After the resignation of
Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to:
People and fictional characters
Given name
*Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc.
* Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...
as mayor of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
, Baturina sold her stake in the project for US$52 million to a Snapbox company's owner
Viktor Rashnikov and his partner Nader Nader.
In 2016, Snegiri claimed that Snapbox had unjustly enriched for US$127 million, because Rashnikov and Nader had supposedly purchased the share in Evolution Project at an underestimated price from Elena Baturina and after that hadn’t given the right to Snegiri Group to the shares in
Russia Tower
The Russia Tower (russian: Башня Россия; ''Bashnya Rossiya'') was a skyscraper project planned for the Moscow International Business Center in Moscow, Russia. It was started but eventually was cancelled due to the financial crisis of 200 ...
and
Rossiya Hotel
The Rossiya Hotel (russian: Гостиница «Россия») was a five-star international hotel in Moscow. It was the largest hotel in the world from 1967 to 1980. Until its closure in 2006, it remained the second largest hotel in Europe, ...
as had been provided by the alleged oral agreement. Snapbox denied the existence of the oral agreement and stated that there was in place only a shareholder’s agreement which governed exhaustively the rights and obligations of the two sides in respect to the Evolution Project.
Besides, it was a direct agreement between Snapbox and Baturina, which was agreed by themselves only.
In July 2014, Russian oil company
Transneft
Joint Stock Company Transneft (russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world. Transneft is operating over of trunk pipeline ...
announced plans to buy the tower for about US$1 billion. It was expected that the deal would beсome the largest in the Moscow office market. Officially, the deal took place in the spring of 2016: Transneft bought only office space and, taking into account the changed exchange rate, could pay about US$300 million. City Palace received US$267.6 million of the net profit and was to distribute it among the final beneficiaries - Frental Developments controlled by Chigirinsky and Snapbox Holding controlled by Rashnikov.
However, Snapbox didn't receive the money and filed a lawsuit against Chigirinsky and Snegiri Group in a Cypriot court on charges of fraud. In November 2016, the court froze Chigirinsky’s assets.
Construction gallery
File:Evolution Tower 12th September 2012.JPG, 12 September 2012
File:Evolution Tower 20th October 2012.JPG, 20 October 2012
File:Evolution Tower 18th of February 2013.jpg, 18 February 2013
File:Evolution Tower, March 23, 2013.jpg, 23 March 2013
File:Evolution TR May 26th 2013.JPG, 26 May 2013
File:Evolution TR June 29th 2013.jpg, 29 June 2013
File:Evolution Tower August 28th 2013.jpg, 28 August 2013
File:Evolution Twr February 2014.jpg, 15 February 2014
File:Evolution Twr March 2014.jpg, 30 March 2014
File:Evolution Tower 07.10.14.jpg, 7 October 2014
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Moscow
Moscow, the capital and largest city of Russia, is home to 12,719 completed high-rises, 22 of which stand taller than . The tallest building in the city is the 101-story East Tower of the Federation Tower complex, which rises in the Moscow In ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Russia
The first skyscrapers in Russia were built during the Stalinist Era in the Soviet Union. These skyscrapers are known as the Seven Sisters, which were built in the Stalinist architectural style. The first skyscraper to be constructed in Russia wa ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Europe
This list of tallest buildings in Europe ranks skyscrapers in Europe by height exceeding 190 meters. For decades, only a few major cities, such as Frankfurt, Paris, London and Moscow contained skyscrapers. In recent years, however, construction ...
*
List of twisted buildings
Buildings can appear to be twisted by design, where the twisting (torsion, helix, etc.) is structural rather than merely an ornamental detail. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat defines a twisting building as one that progressively rot ...
References
External links
* http://www.masterslavl.ru/
animation evolution tower
{{coord, 55, 44, 54, N, 37, 32, 31, E, source:plwiki, display=title
Moscow International Business Center
Twisted buildings and structures
Skyscraper office buildings in Moscow