From Russia, No Love of Skyscrapers
An interesting article from the international press – reflecting the importance of the 980 Madison “decision”.
Redesigning the Power Vertical
Gazprom Threatens St. Petersburg’s Skyline
By Paul Abelsky
Russia Profile
“Although skyscrapers remain the favored architectural expression of corporate clout around the world, in recent decades high-rise construction has mostly flourished in the petrostates of the Persian Gulf and the cities of East and Southeast Asia. Towers go up in Europe as well, with pioneering recent instances in Barcelona and London, but high-rises remain controversial. Just in mid-January, for example, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected a proposed 30-story glass tower designed by English architect Norman Foster. The commissioners ruled that the new structure, planned to rise atop a 1949 building, would be inappropriate for the city’s Upper East Side Historic District.
Preservationist sentiments have traditionally fueled some of the strongest civic movements in Russia, even during the Soviet period, and St. Petersburg’s citizenry may still have its say on the future of Gazprom City. In the mid-1990s, a coalition of Russian public intellectuals and foreign dignitaries opposed a plan for a high-rise on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg. “