PRESERVING THE SHUKHOV TOWER, MOSCOW
The Shukhov (or Shabolovka) tower in Polibino, Russia was designed by engineer Vladimir Shukhov in 1896 and built in 1920-22 at location about 15 minutes from the Kremlin. It was the first diagrid hyperboloid structure of its kind. The tower is made up of six hyperboloids (inward curving) in rotation, with steel gridshells. The gridshell has a diagrid (diagonally-gridded) structure. The hyperbolic conic and the diagrid structure mutually reinforce each other yet weigh relatively little. Because the structure is open, it is unaffected by winds. These qualities allow for the erection of tall buildings of minimal weight that are unaffected by wind sheer. The hyperbolic diagrid is economical as well: the Eiffel Tower is the same height as the Shukhov Tower, but steel used in the Russian tower weighs 2200 tons, while the French structure weighs in at 7300 tons.
The Shukhov tower was planned to be 600’ tall, but lack of sufficient steel resources capped it at 160’. It has served as a broadcasting tower for Moscow radio and television from through out the Soviet era and up to this day, although it has never been renovated and is in a serious state of deterioration.
Although the monument, has been long-recognized as one of the great achievements of the Soviet era and of Russian Constructivist architecture, in 2014 the Russian State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, after being lobbied by the real estate developers and construction firms, announced plans to demolish the tower. The lot occupied by the tower is specially zoned for a 150’ structure in an area otherwise capped out at 5 stories. It was speculated that razing the Shukhov basically a developer’s ploy to build a skyscraper in an area where they are forbidden.
Shukhov built 200 such towers across Russia, only 20 of which survive today. The international outcry against this inexplicable and barbaric plan (imagine François Hollande suggesting the same for the Eiffel Tower) , which included architects Rem Koolhaas, Liz Diller and Norman Foster, was strong enough to cause the government to rescind the order, although they did not rule out its future demolition.
Find me on
hJ