World's second tallest building in Russia: designs revealed by architects Kettle Collective

The Scottish architecture company, with offices in Dubai and Oman, is behind the 150-storey Lakhta Centre II

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Dubai's 828 metre Burj Khalifa towers over any other skyscraper in the world, but trailing behind that at 703 metres will soon be Russia's Lakhta Centre II, which has been designed by Scottish architecture company Kettle Collective.

Once it's complete, the supertall 150-storey skyscraper in St Petersburg will be the second tallest building in the world, soaring above China's 632m Shanghai Tower, and will also have the planet's highest occupied floor and viewing gallery, according to Kettle Collective.

The company unveiled its designs on Tuesday for the tower, which will feature an outer layer of spiralling columns within a metal exoskeleton.

The planned development would be located on the outskirts of the Russian port city, alongside Europe's tallest building, the Lakhta Centre (462m), the headquarters for global energy company Gazprom, which Kettle Collective's co-founder Tony Kettle designed when he worked at architectural firm RMJM.

Kettle, a multi-award-winning architect and design principal, says the new tower will be "more than a city landmark" and will be of "national significance, showcasing Russia on the world's stage as an investor in business, innovation and creative thinking.

“The tower is born out of a daring idea that has been inspired by energy in all of its forms, from helical waves generated around deep space quasars to the spirals of wave energy. The outer layer of the building is created from spiralling columns that form an open organic helical diagrid, while the structure is carved out by a series of spiral atriums shared with green vertical spaces.”

Ultimately, Kettle says, the "vision for the tower form is therefore the physical embodiment of energy. It is an exuberant expression of intersecting helical waves creating a dramatic multi-layered spiral form."

The award-winning Kettle Collective was founded in 2012 and has studios in Scotland, Dubai and Oman.

The company has worked on numerous projects in the Middle East, including the Dewa Solar Innovation Centre in Dubai, the Port Sultan Qaboos in Oman and numerous museums in Saudi Arabia.