Sara Beardsley – Senior Architect, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

SAMARA – The High-Rise Construction 2017 Conference, a partner event between the CTBUH and Samara State Technical University, took place from Sept. 4-7 at the university. In six sessions spanning two days and comprising 22 speakers, the state of high-rise design and construction was presented to about 200 academics and students. Most of the speakers were from universities and practices in Russia, but a small international contingent represented Italy, Bulgaria, the US, and the CTBUH itself.

Beardsley discussed “The Design of Akhmat Tower,” a 435-meter mixed-use building being constructed in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia, in honor of the Chechnyan President Akhmat Haji Kadyrov. She explained how the siting of the tower capitalized on view axes from major points in the city, including the Presidential Palace and the city’s main mosque. The shape of the tower was inspired by the traditional watchtowers in the region, which were built between the 13th and 17th centuries and known as nakh.

Philip Nikandrov, Chief Architect, Gorproject, added additional insight on Akhmat Tower, for which his firm is the local architect, and spoke on the Evolution Tower, Moscow, and the under-construction Lakhta Tower in St. Petersburg, in his own presentation.