14 DAY TRIAL // This construction will match the size of Mother Russia and its thirst for size and territories. The work on the Russia Tower started in September 2007, and - once finished - will be Europe's tallest building, being 612 meters (2,008 feet) high. But the new project, called Crystal Island, will overshadow this, as it will be the world's biggest building when finished.
The man in charge with the design is the same British architect sir Norman Foster, famous for being the author of other great-scale projects, such as the Wembley Stadium, Hearst Tower of New York, McLaren Technological Center, the Hong Kong Airport and ...the Russia Tower!
The 27 million square feet (3 million square meters) "city within a building" will cost $4 billion and may be completed by 2013. Lord Foster has already designed two buildings resembling a volcano in Astana, Kazakstan.
Only the floor surface of the new building will be four times the size of Pentagon in Washington DC (with a 701 m or 2,340 ft in diameter).
The 450 m (1,500 ft) high building will be a self-contained city within a city, with a mix of block buildings (with 900 apartments), museums, theaters, cinemas, hotels (with 3000 rooms), an international school for 500 students, sports complex and others, and will possess 16,500 underground parking places. Visitors will have panoramic views of Moscow from platforms found at heights of 980 ft (327 m).
The building will also be economical and eco-friendly: the exterior facade will include solar panels and wind turbines. Large atriums will provide natural ventilation.
Dynamic enclosure panels will permit daylight to penetrate to the core of the building and they will also control temperature, closing in winter for keeping the heat and opening in summer for ventilation.
This will be the largest building in the world, but which will be the tallest? This is Burj Dubai, which will be finished in 2008, and will be 818 m (2,684 ft) high.
