Mercury City Tower

Situated on plot 14 of the Moscow International Business Center, Mercury Tower, nicknamed the golden tower of Moscow City, is a new generation multifunctional complex. It houses offices of major companies, luxury apartments with luxurious panoramic views of Moscow, many public spaces and original recreational areas.

In its short existence, the building at 1st Krasnogvardeisky Proezd, 15 has earned numerous prestigious awards, set world records and become a real decoration of the Moscow business district.

History of construction

The developer of the Mercury Tower multifunctional complex was the Mercury Development company, headed by Igor Kesaev. Construction work began in 2005. It was planned to be completed in 2009, but the developer decided to slow down the construction so that new offices and apartments would enter the market after the end of the financial crisis. Therefore, by 2009, only the underground floors and the so-called diaphragm wall had been built.

The "golden tower" project was created under the direction of Mikhail Posokhin in close cooperation with architects of the Russian architectural bureau "Mosproekt-2", including Gennady Sirota, and the award-winning American architect Frank Williams. According to the idea of its creators, "Mercury Tower" was to become the first truly environmentally friendly building in the Russian capital.

But F. William died without finishing the project, so it was handed over to the Dutchman Erick van Egeraat. He did not make any significant adjustments to the completed part of the plan and concentrated on finishing the project of the upper floors of the complex, improving its functionality and designing the interiors of the public spaces.

The tower was commissioned in 2013. Its construction was carried out entirely using the developer's own and borrowed funds. In total, about $1 billion was invested in the construction of the tower, of which $300 million was issued to Mercury Development by Sberbank. Therefore, after the tower was commissioned, speculation arose about the possibility of its transfer to the bank's ownership. But in 2016, the loan was restructured, and Mercury Development remained the owner of the skyscraper.

Construction Features

When creating the Mercury Tower, the architects tried to achieve maximum environmental friendliness of the building. Therefore, in 75% of the offices, the required level of illumination during the day is fully provided by natural sunlight. The building has a rainwater collection system, which is directed to cover its needs.

The MFC Mercury Tower has a stepped shape and a bright golden facade. It has no analogues. Tinted energy-saving impact-resistant panoramic glass units were used for its glazing. And the 67th–68th floors of the facade were transformed into a media facade by installing 2 million LEDs, which turned Mercury Tower into a building with the highest media facade in Europe.

The skyscraper is absolutely resistant to earthquakes, the strength of which does not exceed 6 points. This unique feature for Russia was achieved by introducing 2 additional reinforced concrete frames into the building's structure, which ensures its oscillation by no more than 3 cm.

The Golden Tower is 338 m high, and if you take into account the spire, its total height will be 340.1 m. For comfortable movement between floors, the building has 29 elevators, including 10 unique Twin systems with two independent cabins in one shaft, capable of reaching a speed of 7 m/s.

The apartments, offices and public areas have different entrances. They were designed by D. Velikovsky. As a result, some apartments were decorated in the fusion style, some had a classic finish, and some were left without interior work so that the owners could decorate the interiors to their own taste.

The tower's composition today

"Mercury Tower" is a completely self-sufficient multifunctional complex, where you can fully live and work without even leaving the walls of the building. There is everything for a comfortable life, interesting leisure time and productive work.

Mercury Tower has 75 above-ground and 5 underground floors, with a total area of 173,960 sq. m. The lower 4 levels of the building contain underground parking for 437 cars.

The minus first floor is occupied by an elite restaurant. Floors 4 through 39 are reserved for premium-class offices, while the entire upper part of the tower, i.e. floors 42 through 75, is occupied by 137 elite apartments of varying sizes and one 6-story penthouse of 5,000 sq. m.

The area of each office is from 150 sq. m. These are spacious modern premises with 4-meter ceilings and impact-resistant glass. They, like the apartments, offer breathtaking views of the domes of churches, Moscow courtyards and, of course, the entire "Moscow City".

The office and residential parts of the complex are separated by the 40th floor, which houses the 975-meter multifunctional event venue Mercury Space. A wide variety of events are regularly held here, including gala receptions and weddings, conferences and fashion shows, parties, etc.

Mercury Tower houses the offices of the largest companies and leaders of the modern market, including:

• Japan Tobacco (owns 5 floors, total area 10,000 sq. m);

• MMC Norilsk Nickel;

• "Dixie", owned by the owner of "Mercury Tower" I. Kesaev;

• JSC "Megapolis".

The residential part of the building has a 5-star concierge service, which residents can contact to order apartment cleaning and any other necessary services. The following services are available to apartment owners:

• pool;

• spa center;

• art space;

• fitness club;

• bank branches and ATMs;

• hamam;

• billiard room;

• saunas;

• numerous shops;

• restaurants, bars, etc.

Interesting facts and features

Even before the end of construction in 2012, Mercury Tower became the tallest building in Europe. Two years later, this honorary title was transferred to another Moscow-City multifunctional complex, Oko. Today, it is the 3rd tallest skyscraper in Moscow-City and Europe. It was the first Russian building whose area was calculated according to the international Mixed Use (BOMA) standard.

Mercury Tower's awards include:

• annual award for the best architectural projects Emporis Scyscraper Award;

• International Property Awards Europe for Best High-Rise Building Architecture (2013);

• the highest award of the International Property Awards (IPA) for the development of infrastructure and quality of service (2017).

According to IPA, the skyscraper was named the best real estate in the world, the best international office project and mixed-use complex in Europe, the best project for recreation in Europe. And the Mercury Space site received the title of the best event site for holding premium cultural events in Russia and Europe.

An original feature of the Mercury Tower is that about 10% of the materials used in its construction were produced within a 300 km radius of the construction site.