High-Speed Rail Authority Selects Teams to Design and Achieve Environmental Approval for Two Los Angeles-area Rail Lines
Wednesday December 13, 6:39 pm ET
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At its December meeting today, the High-Speed Rail Authority Board approved the selection of two environmental/engineering teams that will lead efforts to design and complete environmental analyses for two key Southern California high-speed train regional lines: Los Angeles to Orange County and Palmdale to Los Angeles.
"The selection of these two regional teams is a very important step for building this project and ensuring the environmental clearance and permitting is completed according to our timetables," said Judge Quentin L. Kopp, Chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. "Now we can begin the engineering work and right-of-way preservation, which will be critical tasks assigned these teams."
The two firms approved by the Board today are:
Los Angeles - Orange County: STV
STV is a leading multidisciplinary engineering, architectural, planning, environmental, and construction management firm with 1,400 personnel in 30 offices nationwide. STV has been ranked by Engineering News & Record (ENR) as 12th in the "Top 50 Transportation Engineering Companies," and fifth in Mass Transit/Rail.
The STV team is composed of firms known throughout the industry for successfully resolving complicated environmental issues and preparing appropriate documentation, achieving consensus among stakeholders through proactive outreach activities, and expertly engineering high-speed and other passenger rail systems.
Palmdale - Los Angeles: Hatch Mott MacDonald, URS & Arup
This team is a joint venture between Hatch Mott MacDonald, LLC (HMM), URS and Arup, with HMM as the lead firm. The HMM/URS/Arup team offer a local, highly qualified professional staff with comprehensive environmental and engineering expertise, a thorough understanding of the Palmdale - LA project, a unique approach to the work, and a proven track record of successful performance on similar projects.
HMM and Arup are award winning tunnel designers, who are renowned for their innovative tunnel designs that reduce construction costs.
"The selection process for these teams was highly competitive, with a number of firms vying for the projects," said Mehdi Morshed, Executive Director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. "The level of knowledge, experience and expertise was very impressive among the firms who submitted proposals. We know we have selected teams who are the best of the best in these regions and we are eager to immediately begin work."
Contact:
California High-Speed Rail Authority
Kris Deutschman, 916-444-5701
Source: California High-Speed Rail Authority
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs
Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts.
European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs
By Matthias Schulz
Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try -- with good results.
Ben Behnke
Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts.
"We reject every form of legislation," the Russian aristocrat and "father of anarchism" Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered.
European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs.
A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende.
The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the streets.
"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."
Monderman could be on to something. Germany has 648 valid traffic symbols. The inner cities are crowded with a colorful thicket of metal signs. Don't park over here, watch out for passing deer over there, make sure you don't skid. The forest of signs is growing ever denser. Some 20 million traffic signs have already been set up all over the country.
Psychologists have long revealed the senselessness of such exaggerated regulation. About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow.
"Unsafe is safe"
The result is that drivers find themselves enclosed by a corset of prescriptions, so that they develop a kind of tunnel vision: They're constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out the window.
The new traffic model's advocates believe the only way out of this vicious circle is to give drivers more liberty and encourage them to take responsibility for themselves. They demand streets like those during the Middle Ages, when horse-drawn chariots, handcarts and people scurried about in a completely unregulated fashion. The new model's proponents envision today's drivers and pedestrians blending into a colorful and peaceful traffic stream.
It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.
Indeed, "Unsafe is safe" was the motto of a conference where proponents of the new roadside philosophy met in Frankfurt in mid-October.
True, many of them aren't convinced of the new approach. "German drivers are used to rules," says Michael Schreckenberg of Duisburg University. If clear directives are abandoned, domestic rush-hour traffic will turn into an Oriental-style bazaar, he warns. He believes the new vision of drivers and pedestrians interacting in a cozy, relaxed way will work, at best, only for small towns.
But one German borough is already daring to take the step into lawlessness. The town of Bohmte in Lower Saxony has 13,500 inhabitants. It's traversed by a country road and a main road. Cars approach speedily, delivery trucks stop to unload their cargo and pedestrians scurry by on elevated sidewalks.
The road will be re-furbished in early 2007, using EU funds. "The sidewalks are going to go, and the asphalt too. Everything will be covered in cobblestones," Klaus Goedejohann, the mayor, explains. "We're getting rid of the division between cars and pedestrians."
The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.
"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed."
Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.
European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs
By Matthias Schulz
Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try -- with good results.
Ben Behnke
Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts.
"We reject every form of legislation," the Russian aristocrat and "father of anarchism" Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered.
European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs.
A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende.
The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the streets.
"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."
Monderman could be on to something. Germany has 648 valid traffic symbols. The inner cities are crowded with a colorful thicket of metal signs. Don't park over here, watch out for passing deer over there, make sure you don't skid. The forest of signs is growing ever denser. Some 20 million traffic signs have already been set up all over the country.
Psychologists have long revealed the senselessness of such exaggerated regulation. About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow.
"Unsafe is safe"
The result is that drivers find themselves enclosed by a corset of prescriptions, so that they develop a kind of tunnel vision: They're constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out the window.
The new traffic model's advocates believe the only way out of this vicious circle is to give drivers more liberty and encourage them to take responsibility for themselves. They demand streets like those during the Middle Ages, when horse-drawn chariots, handcarts and people scurried about in a completely unregulated fashion. The new model's proponents envision today's drivers and pedestrians blending into a colorful and peaceful traffic stream.
It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.
Indeed, "Unsafe is safe" was the motto of a conference where proponents of the new roadside philosophy met in Frankfurt in mid-October.
True, many of them aren't convinced of the new approach. "German drivers are used to rules," says Michael Schreckenberg of Duisburg University. If clear directives are abandoned, domestic rush-hour traffic will turn into an Oriental-style bazaar, he warns. He believes the new vision of drivers and pedestrians interacting in a cozy, relaxed way will work, at best, only for small towns.
But one German borough is already daring to take the step into lawlessness. The town of Bohmte in Lower Saxony has 13,500 inhabitants. It's traversed by a country road and a main road. Cars approach speedily, delivery trucks stop to unload their cargo and pedestrians scurry by on elevated sidewalks.
The road will be re-furbished in early 2007, using EU funds. "The sidewalks are going to go, and the asphalt too. Everything will be covered in cobblestones," Klaus Goedejohann, the mayor, explains. "We're getting rid of the division between cars and pedestrians."
The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.
"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed."
Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Continental exerts a pull on the city
Dec. 3, 2006, 10:24AM
Continental exerts a pull on the city
A merger could affect more than transportation
By PURVA PATEL and NANCY SARNOFF
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
FACTS AND FIGURES
• Revenue: $11.2 billion in 2005
• Ranking: Ninth-largest Houston-based public company by 2005 revenue
• Headquarters: Moved to Houston in 1982
• Houston employees: Nearly 20,000
• Total employees: More than 43,000
• Harris County property tax bill: $8.2 million in 2005
• Ranking: 17th-largest in property tax values in Harris County
• Largest hub: Bush Intercontinental Airport
Sources: Company, Harris County Tax Office, Chronicle 100
Big corporate headquarters bring ripples of economic development to their home cities. But having a hometown airline can bring waves. And that is exactly what Continental Airlines has meant for the Houston area, business and civic leaders said last week as merger speculation buffeted the airline industry.
Over the years, Continental, which has a major domestic hub of connecting flights here, has seen its presence grow. And in turn it's spurred change in areas beyond its orbit. "There's no other single company that is as important to Houston's image and strategic interests as Continental Airlines," Houston City Councilman Michael Berry said. "They're a major employer, a major charitable contributor, and our airport wouldn't be what it is without them."
Today the company employs nearly 20,000 workers in the Houston area and has been a major contributor to the arts, the United Way and often has donated airline tickets to various causes. It also owns a large amount of real estate, including a 118,000-square-foot building in north Houston, and leases 682,000 square feet in Continental Centers I and II at 1600 Smith and 600 Jefferson. And where it goes, so goes business.
When Continental moved its headquarters downtown in 1998, it was a catalyst for other businesses to relocate to the city center, said Paul Layne, executive vice president of Brookfield Properties, a downtown property owner that leases space to the airline.
It's also a major taxpayer, forking over $8.2 million in local property taxes last year, and it ranks 17th in Harris County in terms of property tax value, according to the Harris County Tax Office.
So what would a merger of Continental and some other major carrier mean to Houston?
Downtown would not be hurt significantly, even if a merger resulted in a reduction in office space, Layne said. Occupancy downtown has been increasing, and some real estate experts peg the vacancy rate at less than 10 percent. If Continental were to vacate some of its space, "it would be an opportunity for expansions for other companies," Layne said.
But Houston is more than just its downtown.
Paul Bettencourt, Harris County tax assessor-collector, said any merger could result in job losses and fewer taxpayers. "In merger scenarios, you want to be the headquarters and the hub," Bettencourt said.
Driving airport growth
Continental's growth has also been responsible for much of the expansion at Bush Intercontinental Airport. In 1998, the city announced a $1.4 billion expansion program as then-Continental-owned regional jet service Continental Express took off.
The plans included a new federal inspection building, a parking garage for terminals A and B, a consolidated rental car facility, a north runway and other projects.
Continental contributed millions of dollars to the project and oversaw construction of Terminal E, which it manages. It also leases Terminal C, although those concessions are contracted with the city, and uses all gates in terminals C and E.
Proposition campaign
The airline also ran a campaign this year to pass a proposition that would keep city funds for airport-related uses from being capped. "They're driving a ton of growth at the airport. We've had very little growth from other carriers," said Rick Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System.
He noted that the airline's operation in turn has spurred job growth at the airport by creating the need for catering, cleaning, fuel servicing, concessions and security, among other jobs.
Although the airline represented 48 percent of the airport system's operating revenue during the last fiscal year, Vacar isn't too worried about the loss of Continental's dominance should a merger materialize.
The city has a lot of departing traffic, something airlines find attractive. "If there's a market to be served, somebody will serve it," he said. Beyond the headquarters, having a Continental hub, or connecting point, here has attracted other businesses to the city.
"We talk about the fact that Continental is based here. That's certainly an attribute we use to market this region," said Jeff Moseley, head of the Greater Houston Partnership. "We have so many international and foreign companies based here, so it has a lot to do with this critical hub that the Houston airport provides."
Fewer plane changes
For local business travelers, having a hub airport means nonstop service to many other domestic and international cities. The hub service makes the city compelling to businesses whose executives or employees travel often.
Continental averages 798 departures on weekdays from Houston.
"If you're in a nonhub city and have to change planes to get places, it's more costly to do business because it takes you more time to get there," said Fiona Sigalla, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
When companies move, one of the things they want is good transportation, and to a large extent that means airlines. Continental is one of the main reasons Venezuelan-owned Citgo moved its headquarters from Tulsa to Houston two years ago, spokesman David McCollum said. "Continental provides service to Caracas from Houston, so that's very important for us in terms of going back and forth when we need to," he said.
"But also, the domestic service and not having to go through Dallas or Atlanta makes it very worthwhile for our executives."
purva.patel@chron.com
nancy.sarnoff@chron.com
Continental exerts a pull on the city
A merger could affect more than transportation
By PURVA PATEL and NANCY SARNOFF
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
FACTS AND FIGURES
• Revenue: $11.2 billion in 2005
• Ranking: Ninth-largest Houston-based public company by 2005 revenue
• Headquarters: Moved to Houston in 1982
• Houston employees: Nearly 20,000
• Total employees: More than 43,000
• Harris County property tax bill: $8.2 million in 2005
• Ranking: 17th-largest in property tax values in Harris County
• Largest hub: Bush Intercontinental Airport
Sources: Company, Harris County Tax Office, Chronicle 100
Big corporate headquarters bring ripples of economic development to their home cities. But having a hometown airline can bring waves. And that is exactly what Continental Airlines has meant for the Houston area, business and civic leaders said last week as merger speculation buffeted the airline industry.
Over the years, Continental, which has a major domestic hub of connecting flights here, has seen its presence grow. And in turn it's spurred change in areas beyond its orbit. "There's no other single company that is as important to Houston's image and strategic interests as Continental Airlines," Houston City Councilman Michael Berry said. "They're a major employer, a major charitable contributor, and our airport wouldn't be what it is without them."
Today the company employs nearly 20,000 workers in the Houston area and has been a major contributor to the arts, the United Way and often has donated airline tickets to various causes. It also owns a large amount of real estate, including a 118,000-square-foot building in north Houston, and leases 682,000 square feet in Continental Centers I and II at 1600 Smith and 600 Jefferson. And where it goes, so goes business.
When Continental moved its headquarters downtown in 1998, it was a catalyst for other businesses to relocate to the city center, said Paul Layne, executive vice president of Brookfield Properties, a downtown property owner that leases space to the airline.
It's also a major taxpayer, forking over $8.2 million in local property taxes last year, and it ranks 17th in Harris County in terms of property tax value, according to the Harris County Tax Office.
So what would a merger of Continental and some other major carrier mean to Houston?
Downtown would not be hurt significantly, even if a merger resulted in a reduction in office space, Layne said. Occupancy downtown has been increasing, and some real estate experts peg the vacancy rate at less than 10 percent. If Continental were to vacate some of its space, "it would be an opportunity for expansions for other companies," Layne said.
But Houston is more than just its downtown.
Paul Bettencourt, Harris County tax assessor-collector, said any merger could result in job losses and fewer taxpayers. "In merger scenarios, you want to be the headquarters and the hub," Bettencourt said.
Driving airport growth
Continental's growth has also been responsible for much of the expansion at Bush Intercontinental Airport. In 1998, the city announced a $1.4 billion expansion program as then-Continental-owned regional jet service Continental Express took off.
The plans included a new federal inspection building, a parking garage for terminals A and B, a consolidated rental car facility, a north runway and other projects.
Continental contributed millions of dollars to the project and oversaw construction of Terminal E, which it manages. It also leases Terminal C, although those concessions are contracted with the city, and uses all gates in terminals C and E.
Proposition campaign
The airline also ran a campaign this year to pass a proposition that would keep city funds for airport-related uses from being capped. "They're driving a ton of growth at the airport. We've had very little growth from other carriers," said Rick Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System.
He noted that the airline's operation in turn has spurred job growth at the airport by creating the need for catering, cleaning, fuel servicing, concessions and security, among other jobs.
Although the airline represented 48 percent of the airport system's operating revenue during the last fiscal year, Vacar isn't too worried about the loss of Continental's dominance should a merger materialize.
The city has a lot of departing traffic, something airlines find attractive. "If there's a market to be served, somebody will serve it," he said. Beyond the headquarters, having a Continental hub, or connecting point, here has attracted other businesses to the city.
"We talk about the fact that Continental is based here. That's certainly an attribute we use to market this region," said Jeff Moseley, head of the Greater Houston Partnership. "We have so many international and foreign companies based here, so it has a lot to do with this critical hub that the Houston airport provides."
Fewer plane changes
For local business travelers, having a hub airport means nonstop service to many other domestic and international cities. The hub service makes the city compelling to businesses whose executives or employees travel often.
Continental averages 798 departures on weekdays from Houston.
"If you're in a nonhub city and have to change planes to get places, it's more costly to do business because it takes you more time to get there," said Fiona Sigalla, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
When companies move, one of the things they want is good transportation, and to a large extent that means airlines. Continental is one of the main reasons Venezuelan-owned Citgo moved its headquarters from Tulsa to Houston two years ago, spokesman David McCollum said. "Continental provides service to Caracas from Houston, so that's very important for us in terms of going back and forth when we need to," he said.
"But also, the domestic service and not having to go through Dallas or Atlanta makes it very worthwhile for our executives."
purva.patel@chron.com
nancy.sarnoff@chron.com
Saturday, December 02, 2006
December 2, 2006 A Russian Skyscraper Plan Divides a Horizontal City
Source of article The New York Times
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 1 — Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, announced on Friday that it had chosen the architecture firm RMJM London to design this city’s tallest building, brushing aside arguments from preservationists and residents that the project — whoever the architect — would destroy the city’s architectural harmony.
RMJM’s winning proposal includes a twisting glass tower that would anchor a business and residential center planned for a site on the Neva River opposite the Smolny Cathedral, one of the city’s most famous landmarks.
As now designed, it would rise 1,299 feet — higher even the Peter and Paul Cathedral, built 300 years ago by Peter the Great, which is just over 400 feet tall.
Gazprom’s chief executive, Aleksei B. Miller, hailed the project as a “new symbol of St. Petersburg” akin to city landmarks including the Admiralty, St. Isaac’s Church and the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
“This new, modern project will give birth to a new mentality for St. Petersburg, which lives in a new, modern civilization,” said Mr. Miller, appearing with the city’s governor, Valentina I. Matviyenko. “And its citizens will feel the pulse of the new economy, the pulse of the contemporary world.”
Gazprom selected the RMJM proposal over five other designs by the noted architects Jean Nouvel of Paris; Massimiliano Fuksas of Rome; the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron; Rem Koolhaas of Rotterdam; and Daniel Libeskind of Berlin.
The competition stirred weeks of ferocious debate. Even as Gazprom’s executives met with city officials and experts on the selection commission at the company’s headquarters on the English Embankment, a small group of protesters passed back and forth aboard a small trawler in the Neva, dressed as clowns and mental patients and holding a sign deriding the project. “Lunatics City,” the sign said. (The project is referred to as Gazprom City.)
There was also dissension within the selection panel. The Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who was invited to serve as a member of the jury, read a two-page statement on Friday describing his vision for St. Petersburg, which would preserve its cityscape on a lower scale, and opposing any of the projects under consideration. He then resigned from the jury and left. In a telephone interview later, he said the city’s current limit on building heights was “the most sensitive issue to keeping the existing cultural value of the old city center.”
Before the architect was chosen, the project came under attack on several fronts, and potential challenges remain.
The St. Petersburg Union of Architects, the director of the State Hermitage Museum and other preservation groups have threatened to challenge it in court. This week three members of the city’s parliament appealed to the country’s prosecutor general, saying the project would violate budget rules and a city zoning ordinance that restricts buildings in that part of the city to 157 feet.
One of the lawmakers, Mikhail I. Amosov, said on Friday that the construction of a skyscraper, as Gazprom specified when it solicited proposals, would intrude into St. Petersburg’s horizontal cityscape, which has remained largely unaltered for two centuries.
“Eventually we are going to lose the shape of St. Petersburg that we inherited from previous generations,” Mr. Amosov said after Gazprom announced the decision.
With offices throughout Britain and in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, RMJM ranks among the world’s top 15 architecture firms in size. The St. Petersburg commission will significantly expand the firm’s presence in Russia, where it is already building a 46-story office tower in Moscow called the City Palace.
RMJM’s managing director in Britain, Tony Kettle, said in a telephone interview that the firm designed the tower with St. Petersburg’s cityscape in mind, evoking the city’s Baroque architecture, especially its punctuating spires.
“We’ve created a new spire that elegantly breaks into the sky,” he said.
Mr. Miller and Ms. Matviyenko said the decision to select RMJM had been unanimous and made no mention of Mr. Kurokawa’s resignation. Planners said that RMJM’s design had also drawn the most votes from visitors to the project’s Web site, www.gazprom-city.info.
They emphasized that while they had chosen a design, the exact details remain undecided. Philip Nikandrov, RMJM’s Moscow director, said the project’s most controversial feature — its height — could still be reconsidered.
Ms. Matviyenko, the St. Petersburg governor and a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin, the city’s most prominent native, strongly defended the project against its critics. She said the project’s site was outside the historic center, which is recognized by Unesco as a cultural landmark. She added that Gazprom’s willingness to build a business center for its newly acquired oil company would inject sorely needed revenue into the city, which has not enjoyed the energy-fueled boom that has transformed Moscow.
“Without big companies coming, without turning the city into a financial and economic center, we shall never have these resources,” she said, “and the unique architectural heritage in the center of the city will be quietly falling apart before our eyes.”
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 1 — Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, announced on Friday that it had chosen the architecture firm RMJM London to design this city’s tallest building, brushing aside arguments from preservationists and residents that the project — whoever the architect — would destroy the city’s architectural harmony.
RMJM’s winning proposal includes a twisting glass tower that would anchor a business and residential center planned for a site on the Neva River opposite the Smolny Cathedral, one of the city’s most famous landmarks.
As now designed, it would rise 1,299 feet — higher even the Peter and Paul Cathedral, built 300 years ago by Peter the Great, which is just over 400 feet tall.
Gazprom’s chief executive, Aleksei B. Miller, hailed the project as a “new symbol of St. Petersburg” akin to city landmarks including the Admiralty, St. Isaac’s Church and the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
“This new, modern project will give birth to a new mentality for St. Petersburg, which lives in a new, modern civilization,” said Mr. Miller, appearing with the city’s governor, Valentina I. Matviyenko. “And its citizens will feel the pulse of the new economy, the pulse of the contemporary world.”
Gazprom selected the RMJM proposal over five other designs by the noted architects Jean Nouvel of Paris; Massimiliano Fuksas of Rome; the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron; Rem Koolhaas of Rotterdam; and Daniel Libeskind of Berlin.
The competition stirred weeks of ferocious debate. Even as Gazprom’s executives met with city officials and experts on the selection commission at the company’s headquarters on the English Embankment, a small group of protesters passed back and forth aboard a small trawler in the Neva, dressed as clowns and mental patients and holding a sign deriding the project. “Lunatics City,” the sign said. (The project is referred to as Gazprom City.)
There was also dissension within the selection panel. The Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who was invited to serve as a member of the jury, read a two-page statement on Friday describing his vision for St. Petersburg, which would preserve its cityscape on a lower scale, and opposing any of the projects under consideration. He then resigned from the jury and left. In a telephone interview later, he said the city’s current limit on building heights was “the most sensitive issue to keeping the existing cultural value of the old city center.”
Before the architect was chosen, the project came under attack on several fronts, and potential challenges remain.
The St. Petersburg Union of Architects, the director of the State Hermitage Museum and other preservation groups have threatened to challenge it in court. This week three members of the city’s parliament appealed to the country’s prosecutor general, saying the project would violate budget rules and a city zoning ordinance that restricts buildings in that part of the city to 157 feet.
One of the lawmakers, Mikhail I. Amosov, said on Friday that the construction of a skyscraper, as Gazprom specified when it solicited proposals, would intrude into St. Petersburg’s horizontal cityscape, which has remained largely unaltered for two centuries.
“Eventually we are going to lose the shape of St. Petersburg that we inherited from previous generations,” Mr. Amosov said after Gazprom announced the decision.
With offices throughout Britain and in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, RMJM ranks among the world’s top 15 architecture firms in size. The St. Petersburg commission will significantly expand the firm’s presence in Russia, where it is already building a 46-story office tower in Moscow called the City Palace.
RMJM’s managing director in Britain, Tony Kettle, said in a telephone interview that the firm designed the tower with St. Petersburg’s cityscape in mind, evoking the city’s Baroque architecture, especially its punctuating spires.
“We’ve created a new spire that elegantly breaks into the sky,” he said.
Mr. Miller and Ms. Matviyenko said the decision to select RMJM had been unanimous and made no mention of Mr. Kurokawa’s resignation. Planners said that RMJM’s design had also drawn the most votes from visitors to the project’s Web site, www.gazprom-city.info.
They emphasized that while they had chosen a design, the exact details remain undecided. Philip Nikandrov, RMJM’s Moscow director, said the project’s most controversial feature — its height — could still be reconsidered.
Ms. Matviyenko, the St. Petersburg governor and a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin, the city’s most prominent native, strongly defended the project against its critics. She said the project’s site was outside the historic center, which is recognized by Unesco as a cultural landmark. She added that Gazprom’s willingness to build a business center for its newly acquired oil company would inject sorely needed revenue into the city, which has not enjoyed the energy-fueled boom that has transformed Moscow.
“Without big companies coming, without turning the city into a financial and economic center, we shall never have these resources,” she said, “and the unique architectural heritage in the center of the city will be quietly falling apart before our eyes.”
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