World’s Biggest Building Coming to Moscow: Crystal Island

by: Karim
Moscow’s rapidly growing skyline will soon feature an eye-popping new addition: Crystal Island, which will be the world’s biggest building when completed. Sir Norman Foster’s mountainous 27 million square feet spiraling “city within a building” will cost $4 billion and it is scheduled to be built within next 5 years.

The Crystal Island will be Lord Foster’s second large scale project in the Russian capital, and his third new building design that resembles a volcano (we’re talking about his two mountainous buildings in Astana, Kazakstan). Although many people are calling this design the ‘Christmas Tree’ of Moscow - we can’t help but be reminded of the utopian and also rather volcanic X-Seed 4000 design for Tokyo. Unlike that pipe-dream project, however, Foster has a track record of getting buildings built, so the likelihood is high that we will see this striking structure towering over the Kremlin within 5 years time.

The statistics for the project are absolutely staggering; floor area alone will be four times the size of Pentagon in Washington DC. The incredible 1500 ft. tall multi use structure will feature 900 apartments, 3000 hotel rooms, an international school for 500 students, cinemas, a theater, sports complex and much more. There will also be a 16,500 space underground parking lot for all the visitors. The Crystal Island visitors will be able to enjoy panoramic views of Moscow on the viewing platforms located 980 ft. above ground.

And as we’d expect from Foster + Partners, this soon-to-be world’s biggest building will also incorporate a number of sustainable design features into the overall scheme. The exterior facade will be solar responsive and will include solar panels which, along with wind turbines, will generate electricity for the huge tower. Natural ventilation will be provided thanks to numerous strategically placed large atriums. The internal environment will also have dynamic enclosure panels slotted into the structural framing that will allow daylight to penetrate deep into the heart of the structure; the panels will also be controlled to modify temperature inside the building – closed in winter for extra warmth and opened in summer to allow natural ventilation. Energy management is at the heart of this structure, several on-site renewable and low-carbon energy generation projects are planned.

X-SEED 4000: World’s tallest tower will house 1 million people

There’s a lot of debate about what the tallest tower in the world currently is. Some say the Taipei 101, at 1671 ft to the tip of it’s spire, is the world’s tallest tower, whereas we might argue that the Sears Tower, at a whopping 1731 ft (and 110 stories), still takes the prize. However, if the enormous, 13,000 ft X-Seed 4000 structure ever gets built in Tokyo - it will win the worlds-tallest-building competition hands down and leave its puny competitors in the dirt.

Looking eerily like Mt. Doom in the above rendering, the mountain-like X-Seed 4000 represents a utopian eco-vision for a self-contained high-rise city in the Tokyo harbor - powered mainly by solar energy. Aesthetically inspired by nearby Mt. Fuji, the behemoth building would measure 13,123 feet tall with a 6 square-kilometer footprint, and could accommodate five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants.

Designed by Taisei Construction Corporation as an “intelligent building,” the futuristically-named X-Seed 4000 would maintain light, temperature, and air pressure in response to changing external weather conditions.

Unlike conventional skyscrapers, the X-Seed 4000 would be required to actively protect its occupants from considerable air pressure gradations and weather fluctuations along its massive elevation. Its design calls for the use of solar power to maintain internal environmental conditions. Some estimate that the cost to construct the X-Seed 4000 structure may be somewhere between US$300-900 billion.

We’re not saying it’s impossible, but for now, X-Seed 4000 seems like more of a utopian vision for contemporary green urban planning than a viable design solution.

PENTOMINIUM: Largest residential tower in the world

by Jorge
With all the construction happening in the Middle East, it was just a matter of time before someone proposed a building that would aim to challenge the title of the tallest residential tower, a title currently held by Q1 at the Gold Coast in Australia. So, please allow us to introduce you to Pentominium, a 576 metre tall building that has been proposed in — where else — Dubai.


We’ve shown you some of the extravagant architecture that is being done in Dubai, and this one is no exception. The 120 floor tower, designed by Aedas, was conceived with two challenges in mind, that of dealing with the existing urban landscape and with the extreme desert environment and climate conditions in Dubai. That and also to provide an extremely luxurious living to its occupants. As you see, every floor of the building will be an individual apartment.

We don’t usually go around criticizing designs, preferring to focus on the benefits of good design, but something rattled us a bit about this one. Perhaps it was the sheer chutzpah of creating the largest residential tower in the world, what could be the tallest building in the world, in the middle of the desert. Perhaps it is the hint of sustainability, where the designer alludes to environmentally friendliness because they threw in a few skygardens every 5 or six floors. We really couldn’t tell. We must admit that while the full features of the building have not been shown, this project could potentially be an environmentally friendly building, athough we sorta doubt it will turn out that way. Having said that, it certainly is eye-catching.

+ Pentominium

O-14 GREEN DUBAI TOWER

Form truly follows function when it comes to the façade of the lean green O-14 (pronounced “oh-14″) office tower which broke ground this past December in Dubai. At 22 stories tall, the 300,000 square-foot commercial tower’s most unique feature is its façade, which is made of 16″ thick concrete containing over 1,000 circular openings.

Designed by RUR Architecture, the building’s façade perforations serve as a solar screen, letting in light, air, and views through to the interior occupants. The one-meter space between the façade and the building’s glass surface also yields a chimney effect causing hot air to rise, creating an efficient passive cooling system. The façade also serves as a structural exoskeleton, absorbing all of the tower’s lateral forces and acting as a physical barrier for the building’s window wall.

The Architects Jesse Reiser and Nanoko Umemoto of RUR Architecture designed O-14 in collaboration with developer Shahab Lutfi. The result was a fruitful relationship between developer and architect- both Reiser and Umemoto comment on the significance of their working relationship with Lutfi, with particular regard to his outlook and enthusiasm for innovative architecture.

Dubai is fast becoming the global leader of bizarre upscale developments — for more interesting Dubai architecture, check out the rotating solar tower, and the floating mosque and floating communities which are currently being developed.

NEW DUBAI TOWER CLOCKS THE SUN

As global leader of the bizarre world of upscale development, Dubai has yet another feat of both engineering and excess in the works. The latest spire to be added to the desert landscape will be the Time Residences building in the City of Arabia, a 200-unit apartment tower - that will rotate! The complex will turn a full 360 degrees over the course of a week, utilizing stored solar energy to power the turning mechanisms.

+ Gulf News


Sitting on a high-tech bearing system, the 80,000 ton building will rotate using solar power that will be stored and distributed from a power plant in the base of the building. In addition to the 5mm/second rotation, it will also feature a timepiece down its length, allowing onlookers to gauge the hour by studying the constantly-changing façade features.

Although this is one more example of Dubai pushing extravagance for extravagance’s sake, we are somewhat consoled that the uniqueness of the project is derived from a renewable energy source; it’s just too bad that sustainable power will be wasted on such a superfluous feature.

The $109 million dollar project is expected to start in June 2007.