Oct 23, 20202 min read

The 1 billion dollar Mercury City Tower in Moscow

Updated: Dec 1, 2020

General Info📚

Architects: Frank Williams & Associates; M.M.Posokhin

Structural Engineer: Rosenwasser/Grossman Consulting Engineers P.C.

Cost: US$1 billion

Location: Moscow Russia

Main contractor: Rasen Construction

Space usage: offices, apartments, retail, fitness centres

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Design 🏗

Mercury City Tower is 29m higher than the Shard in London, UK, Mercury City Tower is 29m higher than the Shard in London, UK, and it was the tallest tower in Europe between 2012-2014 before being overtaken by several competitors. Currently Lakhta Center in St Petersburg, Russia holds the record at 462m height.

The skyscrapers its copper-coloured cladding is what makes it unique. The building was originally designed to be surfaced in reflective silver glass in order to mirror the buildings surrounding but eventually came to be wrapped in equally reflective bronze-tinted glass.

Thanks to its inimitable façade, the tower exhibits a constant glow that makes it appear as though it is continually immersed in the light of the sun on the horizon.

A media facade made of 2 million LEDs was installed on the exterior of the 67th and 68th floors of the building. Thus, the Mercury City Tower has the tallest media facade in Europe.

Sustainability Futures 🌿

The building is claimed by architect Frank Williams as the first environmentally friendly building in Russia since it was designed to collect melting snow water, as well as provide 70% of the workplaces with access to daylight.

The building also features a smart “energy cycle” system that regulates energy usage, ambient temperatures, and hot water distribution throughout the development.

Materials ⚒️

Materials used for the construction include heat-resistant reinforced concrete. Approximately 130,000m³ of concrete and 35,000t of reinforcement was used for the construction.

For greater reliability, two independent reinforced concrete skeletons were provided to make the Mercury City Tower resistant against a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

This, as a result, gives the building a futuristic and high-tech look, fitting it in the Structural Expressionist architectural style.

Facade

The façade is built of steel and glass with aluminium glazing, with approximately 1,500t of foreign steel used for the façade cladding. It is the first Russian building constructed using environment-friendly methods.

Source: designbuild-network