World Trade Centre in Moscow

The World Trade Centre (WTC) Moscow is one of the largest and oldest mixed-use business complexes in Russia and is situated in the centre of Moscow. The idea of building the WTC was born at the beginning of the 1970s, when a period of growth in the USSR’s foreign economic activity produced the need for a business centre accommodating representative offices for foreign companies. The WTC was built in 1980. In the coming years the WTC in Moscow will expand to include two new office buildings. The proposal by the architects provides for the erection of two blocks with all-glass asymmetrical façades in the form of large crystal facets. One of the buildings, 57 metres (12 storeys) high and with a floor area of 13,500 square metres, will overlook Mantulinskaya ulitsa. The other, of a complex sculptural shape, will be 200 metres (44 storeys) high and face Ulitsa 1905 goda and the square with the Hermes fountain. This skyscraper will have a floor area of 62,000 square metres. Its first few floors will contain public functions, including cafés and shops. Above them there will be offices. The top of the building will have a viewing platform and observatory. The skyscraper’s basement will contain a three-storey garage for 619 cars; an additional open-air car park will have 35 spaces for visitors. According to architects` approach, the buildings’ volumes and height were tailored to fit the overall arrangement, character, and façade line of the existing development on Krasnopresnenskaya naberezhnaya. Additionally, to better integrate the complex in the fabric of the city, it was decided to create a public promenade zone alongside the entire building; this will require the removal of the fences currently standing on this site and result in the formation of a new urban square.