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St. Petersburg: The Latest Architecture and News

World’s Second Tallest Tower to be Built in Russia

Scottish architecture firm Kettle Collective has revealed plans for a 703-metre skyscraper in St. Petersburg, making it the second tallest building in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The Lakhta Centre II will have the highest occupied floor, and while the exact site is yet to be confirmed, it will sit alongside Lakhta Centre, currently the tallest building in Europe and the headquarters of energy firm Gazprom.

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Coop Himmelb(l)au to Build Constructivism-Inspired CKA Arena and Park

Vienna-based architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au has won an international competition to redesign the CKA Ice Hockey Arena and Park in St. Petersburg, Russia. The design of the complex is inspired by Russian Constructivist architecture, an era that redefined architecture with the works of Tatlin and El Lissitzky, and removed the limitations of construction and movement. The structure and general layout of the arena is based on Tatlin's “Monument to the Third International,” where it is translated as the flowing, dynamic movement of a person skating around the stadium.

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Rhizome Wins Drama Theater Renovation in One of Russia's Oldest Historic Cities

St. Petersburg-based Rhizome has won the competition to reimagine the Dostoevsky drama theater in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. The renovation design aims to enhance the theater's iconic features and make room for a range of new cultural functions and programming. The idea is to transform the theater into a cultural cluster for locals and the tourists alike while highlighting the value of late 20th century modernist architecture.

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Veren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex / SPEECH architectural office

Veren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex  / SPEECH architectural office - Interior Photography, Historic Preservation, Facade, Arch, BalconyVeren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex  / SPEECH architectural office - Exterior Photography, Historic Preservation, Garden, Facade, ChairVeren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex  / SPEECH architectural office - Interior Photography, Historic Preservation, Door, Facade, ColumnVeren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex  / SPEECH architectural office - Historic Preservation, FacadeVeren Place Sovetskaya Residential Complex  / SPEECH architectural office - More Images+ 17

  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  9265
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2019
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  Atlas Schindler, OOO Russky dekor, Skaala

Europe's Tallest Tower Wins Emporis Skyscraper of the Year

The 462-meter-high Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, Russia has been awarded the Emporis Skyscraper Award. Designed by GORPROJECT and RMJM, it is the fourteenth tallest building in the world. As the northernmost supertall skyscraper, the building regulates extreme temperatures through a double skin façade. The winner was chosen by an international jury from over 700 skyscrapers completed in 2019 with a minimum height of 100 meters.

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Bending Arc Installation / Janet Echelman

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Europe's Tallest Skyscraper Approaches Completion in St Petersburg

The Lakhta Center, a 400,000-square-meter complex which includes Europe's tallest skyscraper, is approaching completion in St Petersburg. Designed by RMJM (authoring team led by Tony Kettle), the complex provides a new landmark in the northwest of the city—an area on the coastline of the Gulf of Finland which has seen significant development in recent years with the completion of the St Petersburg Stadium, a passenger seaport, and a number of park spaces including the Park of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg.

The centerpiece of the development, the 462-meter-tall Lakhta Center Tower, is not only the tallest building in Europe, but also the first supertall skyscraper in St Petersburg, the world's second-tallest twisting skyscraper after the Shanghai Tower, and the world's northernmost skyscraper.

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Competition Finalist for Leningrad Siege Museum Reaches for the Sky

From the creators of Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews in Warsaw, comes a competition finalist proposal for the new Museum for the Defense and Siege of Leningrad in St. Petersburg. Lahdelma & Mahalmäki Architects, in collaboration with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, designed three main parts: the Thread of Life (museum and exhibitions), the Memorial of Heroes of Leningrad and the Square of Testimony. Thought to have the popular vote, this entry sought to redevelop and reconnect the city of to the park and museum with its Neo-Classical grid.

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The Hidden History of St. Petersburg's Leningrad-Era Avant-Garde Architecture

While Yekaterinburg’s avant-garde architecture is the city’s hallmark, and Moscow’s avant-garde is the subject of arguments, in Saint Petersburg the prominence of the style and its influence are somewhat harder to identify. Some researchers even suggest that the avant-garde is an “outcast” or a “non-existent style” here, and its presence in has remained largely unrecognized. Alexander Strugach sheds light on this phenomenon:

In Saint Petersburg, the avant-garde style is simply overshadowed by an abundance of Baroque, Modernist and Classical architecture, and is not yet considered an accomplished cultural heritage category. Meanwhile, gradual deterioration makes proving the cultural value of avant-garde buildings even more difficult.

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How a Soviet Governmental Residence, the K-2 Dacha, Became a "Manifestation of the Finnish Dream"

In this article, which originally appeared in the Calvert Journal, Ksenia Litvinenko narrates the story of the K-2 Dacha – a governmental residence in St. Petersburg which sought to shrug off Russian Classicism and Soviet Modernism in favor of the principles of Finnish Modernism. Illustrated by photographs by Egor Rogalev and researched alongside Vladimir Frolov, this article examines a Modernist gem that you probably won't have heard of, or seen, before.

If you ever find yourself in St. Petersburg, take a taxi along the Pesochnaya embankment, far away from the polished attractions of the city centre. Sit back and watch the landscape changing on the other bank of the Malaya Nevka. Among the trees you will see the former dachas of Russian nobles, private residences of local officials and the buildings of the new elite, overlooking the river. This is the best and perhaps the only perspective from which to see the K-2 dacha.

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KCAP and ORANGE Architects Win St. Petersburg Island Competition

A team composed of KCAP Architects&Planners and ORANGE Architects has been awarded first place in a competition to design the western-most tip of Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 15 hectare site will become a new part of the city of St. Petersburg, extending it into the Gulf of Finland through a new variety of urban functions. Thus, the project symbolizes the “new face of St. Petersburg as an entrance of the city from the water.”

Rogers Partners, Ken Smith and ASD's St. Petersburg's "Pier Park" Wins City Approval

The St. Petersburg City Council has approved Rogers Partners, Ken Smith and ASD's "Pier Park" redesign, allocating funds towards demolition of the current pier and pre-construction work. The design, selected through a city-sponsored competition, will replace "an aging icon" - a 1970s inverted pyramid structure that occupies the pier's head - and focus on integrating flexible, community-oriented program throughout the site and surrounding area.

“Each of the pier’s past incarnations had its own set of programs and uses, some more ambitious than others,” commented John Curran, studio leader at ASD and lead project manager for the new pier. “The ones that succeeded appealed to both visitors and residents, and were active day and night, throughout the year. This flexibility was essential to our approach to the new design.”

Rogers Partners and ASD Chosen to Redesign St. Petersburg's Pier

A consortium of Tampa-based ASD, Rogers Partners Architects+Urban Designers, and Ken Smith Landscape Architect has been announced as winners of the second St. Petersburg Pier redesign competition. Chosen after the city failed to implement Michael Maltzen Architecture’s competition-winning proposal due to strong public opposition, the new winning scheme, "Pier Park" takes a more scaled down (and affordable) approach to redesigning the site's landmark 1970s pier by focusing on public experience rather than architectural intervention.

Read on after the break for more on the $46 million Pier Park proposal.

3 Finalists Emerge in St. Petersburg Pier Redesign Competition

After deliberating over eight shortlisted proposals to reimagine the St. Petersburg Pier, the Pier Selection Committee has narrowed the competition down to three designs. Though the proposals vary widely in aesthetics, the finalists all approached the project as an opportunity to express the past while embracing modern forms and incorporating strong public programs.

Next on the agenda, the Pier Selection Committee will conduct an initial public meeting on April 23 in which finalists will present clarifications on their designs, followed later that day with a second meeting to announce the teams' rankings. Based on these proceedings, one design will be chosen for further development, in collaboration with the city. Check out the three finalists, after the break.

Eight Proposals Offer Scaled Down Solutions for Redeveloping St. Petersburg’s Pier

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© Destination St. Pete Pier / St. Pete Design Group

After public outcry rejected Michael Maltzan Architecture’s winning entryThe Lens,” which sought to replace St. Petersburg Pier with an ambitious sail-like concrete canopy and aquatic habitat, the fate of the structurally inapt inverted pyramid remained in limbo. Now, two years after the culmination of the original competition, the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, alongside the preservations of the Concerned Citizens of St. Pete, has selected eight scaled back proposals in hopes that one will provide a sensible solution that will both maximize the pier’s potential and satisfy the locals.

Shortlisted competitors, including FR-EE / Fernando Romero EnterprisE, Alfonso Architects, and Rogers Partners, received a $30,000 stipend to submit these preliminary design concepts, complete with reports, renderings and cost estimates. Take a look at all eight proposals, after the break.

Video: Salvador Dali Museum / HOK

The first to use this type of free-form geodesic geometry in the United States, HOK’s Salvador Dali Museum is a Floridian landmark in St. Petersburg known for housing one of the most important collections of a single artist’s work in the world. Referring to it as “The Dali,” architect Yann Weymouth and museum director Dr. Hank Hine discuss their intentions behind the building’s design in this interview with TheCoolist.com.

OfficeUS Propose Floating Museum for Guggenheim Helsinki Competition

When you visit the galleries of Guggenheim Helsinki, you may have to bring a life vest. This submission to the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition floats the idea of a museum over water, traveling between the ports of St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Helsinki. Proposed as a hypothetical submission to the worldwide contest, the team at OfficeUS delve into the notion of transience in the new world of architourism. The brief reads: "As a global freeport, the museum develops a completely new infrastructure, offering the strategic tax benefits of freeport art storage while enabling exhibitions of some of the most important pieces of modern art and design." Upcoming exhibits include (hypothetically) Olafur Elliasson, Yves Klein and Thomas Demand.

St. Petersburg Calls for New Pier Design Submissions

The city of St. Petersburg, Florida is once more seeking candidates for the design of its new pier. The call comes two years after a pier design by Michael Maltzan Architecture was selected over rival schemes by BIG and West 8, but was eventually turned down after significant public criticism. To avoid a repeat of that incident, the current selection process for candidates and their subsequent proposals will incorporate more community input.

More on the competition after the break