| Mercury City Tower | |
|---|---|
Меркурий Cити Tауэр | |
 | |
 Interactive map of the Mercury City Tower area | |
| Alternative names | Mercury City, Mercury Office Tower |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Mixed-use |
| Architectural style | Structural Expressionism |
| Location | Moscow International Business Center Moscow, Russia |
| Coordinates | 55°45′2″N37°32′22″E / 55.75056°N 37.53944°E /55.75056; 37.53944 |
| Construction started | 2006 |
| Completed | 2013 |
| Cost | US$1 billion |
| Owner | Igor Kesaev |
| Height | |
| Roof | 338.8 m (1,112 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 75 5 below ground |
| Floor area | 173,960 m2 (1,872,500 sq ft) |
| Lifts/elevators | 29 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | M.M. Posokhin Frank Williams and Associates G.L. Sirota |
| Developer | LLC Rasen Stroy |
| Structural engineer | Mosproject-2 |
| Main contractor | Rasen Construction |
| References | |
| [1][2][3][4] | |
Mercury City Tower (Russian:Меркурий Сити Тауэр,romanized: Merkuriy Siti Tauer) is a supertallskyscraper located on plot 14 in theMoscow International Business Center (MIBC), inMoscow, Russia. Occupying a total area of 173,960 square metres (1,872,500 ft2), themixed-use building houses offices, apartments, afitness center, and retail stores.[5][6]
Rising 338.8 m (1,112 ft) tall, the Mercury City Tower was formerly thetallest building of Russia andEurope, having surpassed the Moscow Tower of the neighboringCity of Capitals complex (also in the MIBC) as the tallest of Russia andThe Shard in London as Europe's tallest building.[7] The Mercury City Tower kept this record from late 2012 to the summer of 2014, in which it was surpassed by the South Tower of the neighboringOKO complex (also on the MIBC) as the tallest building in Russia and Europe.[5][6] Currently, it is the fifth-tallest building in Europe and it is also the tallest copper-clad building in the world.
Mercury City Tower was jointly developed by the American architectFrank Williams and the Russian engineering team Mosproject-2 under the leadership of architect Mikhail Posokhin. After the death of Williams in 2010, the Russians were able to convince Dutch architectErick van Egeraat to succeed him and thus finish Williams' work.[8]
Construction of Mercury City Tower began in 2006.[5][9] The project was estimated to be completed by 2009, but developers Mercury Development and Liedel Investments Limited preferred to slow down the project in order to not bring the building to thehousing market during theGreat Recession. By 21 April 2009, Mercury City Tower had just finishedfoundation work: finishingearthworks and five underground floors, and was ready for construction over ground. The estimated completion date was then pushed to 2010.[10]
On 1 November 2012, the Mercury City Towertopped out at 338.8 m (1,112 ft), overtaking the Moscow Tower of the neighboringCity of Capitals complex as thetallest building of Russia andThe Shard in London astallest building of Europe.[5][7][11] It also became the world's tallest building built ofreinforced concrete.[5]
Construction was finished in 2013.[5][6][9]
On the summer of 2014, the South Tower of the neighboring OKO complex surpassed the Mercury City Tower as the tallest building in Russia and Europe as well as the tallest building built of reinforced concrete.[5]
Construction was conducted with the help of aUS$300 million loan fromSberbank, which created the ground for speculation about the possible transition of the building into ownership of the bank in 2015–2016. The loan was restructured in 2016. The whole cost of the project was estimated by business publications to range between US$650 million and US$1 billion.[12][13]
In May 2021 this building, alongside the Chinese and Russian diplomatic facilities inAustralia, were the targets of abomb threat posted onDutch sports site Sportnieuws.nl that was hacked by persons calling themselves 'Encore Ong' and ‘Zehang T’.[14]
The Mercury City Tower's distinctivecopper-coloredcladding makes the building stand out among its neighboring skyscrapers in theMIBC as well as the entirety of Moscow. The building was originally designed to be surfaced inreflectivesilver glass in order to mirror the buildings surrounding it, but this eventually was replaced by an equally reflectivebronze-tinted glass. This gives the building a constant orange glow that makes it appear as it is embracing itself with the sunlight on the horizon. This was according to Egeraat in an interview with Arch.ru introduced by Egeraat's Russian colleagues. A media facade of two millionLEDs was installed on the exterior of the 67th and 68th floors of the building, the tallest media facade in Europe.[9][15]
The Mercury City Tower also has a unique setback shape, in which the building steps back twice along its northwestern facade, creating a tapering effect that extends the building's height in conjunction with the vertical skeletal striping that show its corners. Each setback has a slanted roof that supports the illusion of added height. For greater reliability, two independent reinforced concrete skeletons were provided to make the Mercury City Tower resistant against a 6.0magnitude earthquake.[16] This as a result gives the building a futuristic and high-tech look, fitting it in theStructural Expressionist architectural style.[9][15]
After Williams' death on 25 February 2010, his successor Egeraat stated it would be improper to make significant changes to the tower and focused on improving the upper levels of the building, elaborating a functional solution for the skyscraper, and developing interiors of public spaces.[17]
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.[6][9]
Mercury City Tower is amixed-use building, featuring offices, apartments, retail, restaurants, afitness center,conference rooms, andparking spaces.[5][6] The apartments are located on the topmost floors of the building, and was designed to merge units, adding to the tower's overall space efficiency.[9]
The building has a total of 29 elevators, in which two of them are high-speed elevators travelling at a maximum speed of 7 m/s. Out of the 29 elevators, 20 are passenger elevators and 9 are service elevators. 10 of the passenger elevators operate with theTWIN system.[6]
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Tallest Building in Europe 2012—2014 338.8 m | Succeeded by OKO South Tower |
| Preceded by City of Capitals Moscow Tower | Tallest Building in the Former Soviet Union 2012—2014 338.8 m | Succeeded by OKO South Tower |
| Preceded by City of Capitals Moscow Tower | Tallest Building in Russia 2012—2014 338.8 m | Succeeded by OKO South Tower |
| Preceded by City of Capitals Moscow Tower | Tallest Building in Moscow 2012—2014 338.8 m | Succeeded by OKO South Tower |
| Completed |
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| Under construction |
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