1897 - World's First Gridshell by Vladimir Shukhov
Vyksa Steel Production Hall, completed in: 1897
Location: Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District, Russia
Structural Type: Gridshell
Function / usage: Factory building
Designer: Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov
Technical information: shell, steel
Dimensions: width - 38.40 m, length - 73.00 m
Relevant Literature: Beckh, Matthias The First Doubly Curved Gridshell Structure - Shukhovs Building for the Plate Rolling Workshop in Vyksa, presented at Third International Congress on Construction History, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany , 20th-24th May 2009.
The First Doubly Curved Gridshell Structure - Shukhov's Building for the Plate Rolling Workshop in Vyksa.
In the year 1897, the renowned Russian engineer-polymath Vladimir Shukhov built a production hall in the town of Vyksa, a steel mill 150km southwest of Nizhny Novgorod. This building entails the first doubly curved gridshell structure. ... The production hall is on the vast premises of the Vyksa Steel Works, a manufacturer of metallurgical products, founded in 1757. The building was designed in 1897 and construction could be completed a year later. The building was in use until the 1980ies. Abandoned and neglected for more than two decades, the building is today in a disastrous state of repair. The construction with a footprint of 73.00m x 38.40m consists of five 14.60m wide bays, which are separated by four trussed arches. In the longitudinal direction, the building is braced by six vertical cantilevers, which are integrated into the front facades, and connected to the arches with tie rods.
The polygonal top chord of the frames provides the base for the grid shell. In the following, the construction of the arches and the front facade structure will be explicated.
Matthias Beckh, Rainer Barthel
TU München, Munich, Germany
En 1897, l'ingenieur russe Vladimir Shukhov a concu et construit un hall de production pour une entreprise siderurgique dans la ville de Vyksa, un batiment comportant la premiere structure de gridshell a double courbure (Beckh and Barthel 2009). Le batiment, d'une supercie de 73,00m x 38,40m se compose de cinq larges baies separees entre elles par quatre arcs en treillis. Dans le sens longitudinal, la construction est soutenue par six consoles verticales qui sont integrees dans les facades et reliees aux arcs par des tirants. A cette epoque, les gridshells n'etaient pas connus et il n'existe aucune preuve historique sur la fa»con dont Shukhov a genere la
forme de la structure.
Dr. Lina Bouhaya,
В Выксе на Выксунском металлургическом заводе находится уникальный памятник промышленной архитектуры и технического искусства, построенный великим русским инженером, архитектором, учёным и почётным академиком Владимиром Григорьевичем Шуховым в 1897 году. Это цех с первыми в мире парусообразными стальными сетчатыми перекрытиями-оболочками двоякой кривизны. Парусообразные перекрытия цеха — единственные сохранившиеся в России стальные сетчатые перекрытия-оболочки из более тридцати, возведённых по проектам В. Г. Шухова. В XXI веке, благодаря использованию компьютеров для расчёта конструкций, сетчатые оболочки-перекрытия используются ведущими архитекторами мира, такими как Лорд Норман Фостер, Заха Хадид, Сантьяго Калатрава, Поль Андре, Максимилиан Фуксас и другими.
World's First Diagrid Shell by Shukhov in Vyksa - 1897 / Сетчатый шедевр Шухова в Выксе
The Shukhov's Diagrid Roof in Vyksa, Russia - 1897
- Diagrid-Gitterschale von Wladimir Grigorjewitsch Schuchow in Wyksa - 1897.
Prof. Rainer Barthel ( prof. Rainer Graefe ( und ing. Wladimir Fjodorowitsch Schuchow shprechen ueber Diagrid-Gitterschale von Wladimir Grigorjewitsch Schuchow in disem video.
Vyksa Steel Production Hall, completed in: 1897
Location: Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District, Russia
Structural Type: Gridshell
Function / usage: Factory building
Designer: Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov
Technical information: shell, steel
Dimensions: width - 38.40 m, length - 73.00 m
Relevant Literature: Beckh, Matthias The First Doubly Curved Gridshell Structure - Shukhovs Building for the Plate Rolling Workshop in Vyksa, presented at Third International Congress on Construction History, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany , 20th-24th May 2009.
The First Doubly Curved Gridshell Structure - Shukhov's Building for the Plate Rolling Workshop in Vyksa.
In the year 1897, the renowned Russian engineer-polymath Vladimir Shukhov built a production hall in the town of Vyksa, a steel mill 150km southwest of Nizhny Novgorod. This building entails the first doubly curved gridshell structure. ... The production hall is on the vast premises of the Vyksa Steel Works, a manufacturer of metallurgical products, founded in 1757. The building was designed in 1897 and construction could be completed a year later. The building was in use until the 1980ies. Abandoned and neglected for more than two decades, the building is today in a disastrous state of repair. The construction with a footprint of 73.00m x 38.40m consists of five 14.60m wide bays, which are separated by four trussed arches. In the longitudinal direction, the building is braced by six vertical cantilevers, which are integrated into the front facades, and connected to the arches with tie rods.
The polygonal top chord of the frames provides the base for the grid shell. In the following, the construction of the arches and the front facade structure will be explicated.
Matthias Beckh, Rainer Barthel
TU München, Munich, Germany
En 1897, l'ingenieur russe Vladimir Shukhov a concu et construit un hall de production pour une entreprise siderurgique dans la ville de Vyksa, un batiment comportant la premiere structure de gridshell a double courbure (Beckh and Barthel 2009). Le batiment, d'une supercie de 73,00m x 38,40m se compose de cinq larges baies separees entre elles par quatre arcs en treillis. Dans le sens longitudinal, la construction est soutenue par six consoles verticales qui sont integrees dans les facades et reliees aux arcs par des tirants. A cette epoque, les gridshells n'etaient pas connus et il n'existe aucune preuve historique sur la fa»con dont Shukhov a genere la
forme de la structure.
Dr. Lina Bouhaya,
В Выксе на Выксунском металлургическом заводе, принадлежащем Объединенной металлургической компании, находится уникальный памятник промышленной архитектуры и технического искусства, построенный великим русским инженером, архитектором, учёным и почётным академиком Владимиром Григорьевичем Шуховым в 1897 году. Это цех с первыми в мире парусообразными стальными сетчатыми перекрытиями-оболочками двоякой кривизны. Парусообразные перекрытия цеха — единственные сохранившиеся в России стальные сетчатые перекрытия-оболочки из более тридцати, возведённых по проектам В. Г. Шухова. В XXI веке, благодаря использованию компьютеров для расчёта конструкций, сетчатые оболочки-перекрытия используются ведущими архитекторами мира, такими как Лорд Норман Фостер, Заха Хадид, Сантьяго Калатрава, Поль Андре, Максимилиан Фуксас и другими.
#Шухов #ВладимирШухов #Vyksa #GridShell #Shukhov #VladimirShukhov #Schuchow #инженер #ИнженерноеИскусство #архитектура #ФондШуховскаяБашня #ShukhovTowerFoundation #diagrid #architecture #CivilEngineering #engineer #MatthiasBeckh #construction #Выкса #ВсемирноеНаследие #WorldHeritage #SergeiArsenyev #RainerGraefe #ErikaGraefe #RainerBarthel
#ВыксунскийМеталлургическийЗавод #ВМЗ #ОбъединеннаяМеталлургическаяКомпания #ОМК #сталь #стальныеконструкции
Shukhov Tower in Moscow / Шуховская башня
«Lord Foster fires up campaign to save rusting Russian radio tower» -
Architect brands structure as a work of 'dazzling genius' and inspiration that must be saved. From a distance it looks a bit like an upturned wastepaper basket, soaring over the concrete skyline of southern Moscow. The Russian capital's unique Soviet-era radio station was built in 1922 to spread the message of revolutionary communism around the world, but it is badly neglected and suffering from corrosion.
Now British architect Lord Foster has backed a campaign to save the 150-metre-high steel tower designed by the engineering genius Vladimir Shukhov. In an open letter, Lord Foster describes the tower as a structure of dazzling brilliance and great historical importance. Calling the structure Shukhov's masterpiece, Foster says it is the first major landmark of the Soviet period. Made up of a delicate lattice structure, the tower has five interlocking hyperboloids, each smaller in size, giving the impression of an inverted telescope. The revolutionary design is an inspiration for several of Foster's own landmark projects including the Gherkin, or Swiss Re building, in the City of London.
Lenin commissioned the tower to adorn his new Soviet Union during a period of romantic optimism. It was built between 1919-1922. Nearly 90 years on, it is badly neglected and suffering from corrosion. Russia's federal and local government are locked in dispute over which one of them should pay for repairs. Neither seems willing to stump up the cash.
In the meantime, Foster says, the structure is neglected and dying and without faithful restoration is doomed to fail. Several other leading European and US architects have backed Foster's letter, sent last month to the Moscow authorities. The art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon is another fan, and rode to the top in his recent BBC series on Russian art. Dixon-Smith hailed it as one of the great monuments of the constructivist post-revolutionary period.
Today Shukhov's grandson, also called Vladimir, said the tower near Moscow's Shabolovskaya metro station was inaccessible and closed to visitors. The idea was to restore it and turn it into a major Moscow tourist attraction, he said. Last year Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, expressed his support for the scheme, but since then nothing had happened, Shukhov said.
The steel framework had not undergone any anti-corrosion treatment for 20 years, he said, and was at risk of falling down. We are in a very dangerous situation. There's been a lot of talk but no activity. You have the architectural equivalent of a diamond here, and yet nothing is being done to save it. Under the headline corroded masterpiece, Russia's Izvestiya newspaper contrasted official Russian indifference to the building's fate with Foster's vigorous campaign. Only foreigners care about its destiny, the paper said. Russia's state TV and radio station -- which owns the tower -- had no money and even less desire to save it, the paper added.
Shukhov was one of the greatest structural engineers of the early 20th century and the leading engineer of his era in Russia. He pioneered the use of new structural systems, creating hyperboloid structures of double curvature whose lightness and geometric complexity defy the imagination, even in the computer age. He also built Russia's first oil pipeline as well as numerous railway bridges.
Luke Harding
Vladimir Shukhov - exhibition in MAMM, Moscow
The engineer, scientist, inventor and honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov (1853-1939) is renowned for outstanding achievements in various areas of science and technology. For over half a century his diverse scientific, technological and engineering work from the late 1870s to the 1930s was hugely influential in the development of mechanics, power engineering, architecture, construction and transport in Russia. This exceptional scientist contributed to the formation and evolution in the 19th-to 20th-century Russia of a number of new fields: the oil industry, boiler making, pump building and the production of reservoirs, river tankers, steam-driven facilities, gas holders, etc.
Vladimir Shukhov made an important contribution to the construction of public and industrial buildings, as well as bridges, bridge cranes, caissons, nautical and airship hangars, hyperboloid lattice towers (pressure and observation towers), electricity transmission line masts, lighthouse beacons, warship masts, defensive port structures and other facilities. Shukhov created the famous hyperboloid lattice structure (patented in 1899), realised in the construction of gigantic supports for power transmission lines across the River Oka, lighthouses and water pressure towers. Shukhov designed and supervised the building of a multi-tiered gridshell tower for the Comintern Radio Station (height 150 m) in Shabolovka, Moscow, for the all-union radio transmission system (1919-1922). The unique Shukhov Tower is still functioning and serves as the symbol of television and radio transmission across Russia.
The geography of Vladimir Shukhov's activities is amazing and its scale is truly all-Russian. He undertook the equipment of the economy throughout Russia, from the capital cities to outlying regions, in the Urals, Siberia, the Transcaucasus, Ukraine, Turkmenia, etc.
In all spheres of his work Vladimir Shukhov not only produced his engineering solutions on a scientific basis, but also compared theoretical calculations with experimental data. As a result, he often succeeded in perfecting engineering designs, and the realisation of set technical tasks was carried out according to new, rational methods.
Given the critical necessity for economy in the use of metal in Russia, Vladimir Shukhov strove to build cheaply as well as durably, setting the goal of devising constructions based on a series of fundamental criteria for cost efficiency for the first time in practice.
Striking examples are provided by the celebrated radio tower in Shabolovka and several machine shops at the Vyksunsky Metallurgical Plant that were designed and built by Vladimir Shukhov more than a hundred years ago.
He was the first in the world to make use of a supporting steel gridshell for the construction of buildings and towers. Contemporaries regarded the technical achievements of Shukhov's systems as an original innovation, although the architectural possibilities of the new structures were unknown to them. While Russian architecture was forming an aesthetic attitude to the new forms of engineering or refusing to accept them, engineering creativity developed in line with a judicious understanding of the form and consequently of its utilisation.
Vladimir Shukhov introduced the single-sheet hyperbolic paraboloid of revolution to architecture when he created the first ever hyperboloid constructions (1896). The Shukhov hyperboloid towers that have been preserved are stunning not only for the originality of the engineering concept, but also for the grace of their consummate architectural form. Today gridshells facilitate the creation of buildings with very complex forms and are therefore used by such world-famous architects as Frank Gehry (USA), Paul Andreu (France), Santiago Calatrava (Spain), Renzo Piano (Italy), Nicholas Grimshaw (UK), Massimiliano Fuksas (Italy) and others. The translucent roof of the British Museum's inner courtyard and the cupola of the 30 St. Mary Axe Tower («the Gherkin») in London, the gridshell covering of the atrium in the DZ Bank building in Berlin, the hyperboloid air traffic control tower at Barcelona Airport, the gridshell of the theatre in Valencia, the gridshell roof of the Maritime Museum in Osaka, the double gridshell of the Beijing Opera Theatre and the hyperboloid gridshell television tower at Guangzhou were all built on the basis of Vladimir Shukhov's discoveries.
Harmonically combining the talent of a leading scientist with the intuition of a brilliant engineer, Vladimir Shukhov worked in the most diverse areas of science and technology. Everything he created was at the level of discovery and invention; everything was a breakthrough for its time. Many examples of contemporary architecture and construction that are striking for their innovation and scale originate from Shukhov's discoveries in the late 19th century. -
Dr. Armin Grün and World's First Diagrid Hyperboloid
The scientist professor Dr. Armin Grün from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( investigates the Shukhov's World's First Hyperboloid structure ( The Russian engineer and architect Vladimir Shukhov ( was the first in the world to invent and use in construction hyperboloid towers. For the 1896 All-Russia industrial and art exhibition in Nizhniy Novgorod Shukhov built the steel lattice 37-meter tower, which became the first hyperboloid structure in the world. The astonishing hyperboloid lattice structure caused delight of the European specialists (The Nijni-Novgorod exhibition: Water tower, room under construction, springing of 91 feet span, The Engineer magazine, 1897, № 19.3. - P.292-294).
After the exhibition had closed, the openwork tower of rare beauty was bought by the well-known Maecenas of that time Yury Nechaev-Maltsov and placed in his estate Polibino, Lipetsk Oblast, where it has preserved until now under the state protection. In the subsequent years, V.G.Shukhov developed numerous structures of various lattice steel hyperboloids and used them in hundreds water towers, sea lighthouses, masts of warships and supports for power transmission lines. The hyperboloid structures appeared in Spain (Gaudi) and USA (battleship masts) only 10 years after the Shukhov's invention.
Первая Шуховская башня в Полибино.
У первой в мире гиперболоидной конструкции, башни В.Г.Шухова, установленной 1896 году в селе Полибино Данковского района Липецкой области, не только великое историческое прошлое, но и серьезные перспективы на будущее. Это стало ясно в результате исследования известного ученого Армина Грюна ( Профессор Федеральной швейцарской высшей технической школы в Цюрихе (ETH Zürich) приехал в усадьбу Полибино-Сторожевое вместе с членом-корреспондентом РАН профессором Сергеем Юрьевичем Желтовым. Ученые со своими помощниками провели фотограмметрическую съёмку первой в мире гиперболоидной конструкции, которая поможет в разработке проекта реставрации архитектурного шедевра академика В.Г.Шухова.
Не обошлось и без ЧП. В ходе изысканий миниатюрный беспилотный вертолет летал вокруг первой башни В.Г.Шухова, передавая на землю её изображения. Через несколько часов исследований напичканный электроникой и фотооборудованием мини-геликоптер врезался в стену дворца Нечаевых и разбился. Хорошо, что ученые успели обследовать три четверти сетчатой оболочки первого гиперболоида. Выяснить причину аварии по «горячим следам» не удалось. «Черный ящик»-флэшку, обнаружить никто не смог.
Но улыбка на лице Грюна все-таки появилась. После того, как при содействии начальника Госдирекции по охране культурного наследия Липецкой области Андрея Анатольевича Найденова одна из фирм города Данкова предоставила ученым 22-метровый подъёмник, работа вновь закипела. На высоте фотограмметрической съёмкой занялись помощники профессора. В течение двух часов исследовательская работа была завершена.
Shukhov Tower in Moscow
Natalia Melikova talks about the Shukhov tower in Moscow
#Шухов #ВладимирШухов #Shukhov #VladimirShukhov #ShukhovTower #инженер #русскийАвангард #инженерноеИскусство #архитектура #ШуховскаяБашня #ФондШуховскаяБашня #ShukhovTowerFoundation #diagrid #architecture #civilEngineering #engineer #RussianAvantGarde #hyperboloid #heritage #WorldHeritage
Construction of Shukhov Tower
The Shukhov Heritage -
Norman Foster - Vladimir Shukhov - Architecture
«Lord Foster fires up campaign to save rusting Russian radio tower» -
Architect brands structure as a work of 'dazzling genius' and inspiration that must be saved. From a distance it looks a bit like an upturned wastepaper basket, soaring over the concrete skyline of southern Moscow. The Russian capital's unique Soviet-era radio station was built in 1922 to spread the message of revolutionary communism around the world, but it is badly neglected and suffering from corrosion.
Now British architect Lord Foster has backed a campaign to save the 150-metre-high steel tower designed by the engineering genius Vladimir Shukhov. In an open letter, Lord Foster describes the tower as a structure of dazzling brilliance and great historical importance. Calling the structure Shukhov's masterpiece, Foster says it is the first major landmark of the Soviet period. Made up of a delicate lattice structure, the tower has five interlocking hyperboloids, each smaller in size, giving the impression of an inverted telescope. The revolutionary design is an inspiration for several of Foster's own landmark projects including the Gherkin, or Swiss Re building, in the City of London.
Lenin commissioned the tower to adorn his new Soviet Union during a period of romantic optimism. It was built between 1919-1922. Nearly 90 years on, it is badly neglected and suffering from corrosion. Russia's federal and local government are locked in dispute over which one of them should pay for repairs. Neither seems willing to stump up the cash.
In the meantime, Foster says, the structure is neglected and dying and without faithful restoration is doomed to fail. Several other leading European and US architects have backed Foster's letter, sent last month to the Moscow authorities. The art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon is another fan, and rode to the top in his recent BBC series on Russian art. Dixon-Smith hailed it as one of the great monuments of the constructivist post-revolutionary period.
Today Shukhov's grandson, also called Vladimir, said the tower near Moscow's Shabolovskaya metro station was inaccessible and closed to visitors. The idea was to restore it and turn it into a major Moscow tourist attraction, he said. Last year Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, expressed his support for the scheme, but since then nothing had happened, Shukhov said.
The steel framework had not undergone any anti-corrosion treatment for 20 years, he said, and was at risk of falling down. We are in a very dangerous situation. There's been a lot of talk but no activity. You have the architectural equivalent of a diamond here, and yet nothing is being done to save it. Under the headline corroded masterpiece, Russia's Izvestiya newspaper contrasted official Russian indifference to the building's fate with Foster's vigorous campaign. Only foreigners care about its destiny, the paper said. Russia's state TV and radio station -- which owns the tower -- had no money and even less desire to save it, the paper added.
Shukhov was one of the greatest structural engineers of the early 20th century and the leading engineer of his era in Russia. He pioneered the use of new structural systems, creating hyperboloid structures of double curvature whose lightness and geometric complexity defy the imagination, even in the computer age. He also built Russia's first oil pipeline as well as numerous railway bridges.
Luke Harding
Лорд Норман Фостер требует реставрировать гиперболоидную башню В.Г.Шухова на Шаболовке в Москве ( В своём открытом письме британский архитектор отмечает, что на сегодняшний день шедевр мировой архитектуры находится в запустении и разрушается, -
Самыми безотлагательными шагами, которые нужно предпринять, должны стать назначение международной комиссии для экспертизы состояния башни Владимира Шухова и разработка проекта её надлежащей реставрации, - указывается в письме Лорда Фостера. Он подчёркивает, что необходимо восстановить шедевр русского авангарда в его первоначальном виде - 1922г.
Шуховская башня никогда не реставрировалась и нуждается в СРОЧНОЙ защите от КОРРОЗИИ и международной экспертизе!
Shukhov Tower | Seminar Event: Xenia Vytuleva, Columbia University
Our closing event for the Shabolovka Tower Model exhibition brought together several experts who discussed the significance of Vladimir Shukhov's achievement.
Our guest speakers were:
Tilly Blyth, Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum
Prof. John Milner, Courtauld Institute
Lutz Becker, Independent Art Historian
Xenia Vytuleva, Columbia University
Vladimir Shukhov, great-great-grandson of the tower's original creator and an architect himself
Henry Milner, maker of the Shabolovka Tower model.
Shukhov Tower | Seminar Event: Vladimir Shukhov, Fosters and Partners
Our closing event for the Shabolovka Tower Model exhibition brought together several experts who discussed the significance of Vladimir Shukhov's achievement.
Our guest speakers were:
Tilly Blythe, Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum
Prof. John Milner, Courtauld Institute
Lutz Becker, Independent Art Historian
Xenia Vytuleva, Columbia University
Vladimir Shukhov, great-great-grandson of the tower's original creator and an architect himself
Henry Milner, maker of the Shabolovka Tower model.
Shukhov Tower on the Oka River
Shukhov - Tatlin - Melnikov - Leonidov
TATLIN, MELNIKOV and LEONIDOV used ideas of Vladimir SHUKHOV.
Профессор архитектуры Игорь Казусь говорит об использовании формообразующих идей архитектора Владимира Шухова в творчестве грандов архитектуры русского авангарда: Владимира Татлина, Константина Мельникова и Ивана Леонидова.
Tower of genius cries for help
It's time to say happy birthday to one of Moscow's most eye-catching landmarks.
The Shukhov television tower - named after its creator, is celebrating 90 years since its construction.
The tower is regarded a high-point in engineering, and it pioneered a style that -- nearly a century later -- remains at the forefront of architecture.
Prime Time's Thabang Motsei was lucky enough to be allowed to climb to the top...
Shukhov Tower | Seminar Event: Lutz Becker, Independent Art Historian
Our closing event for the Shabolovka Tower Model exhibition brought together several experts who discussed the significance of Vladimir Shukhov's achievement.
Our guest speakers were:
Tilly Blyth, Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum
Prof. John Milner, Courtauld Institute
Lutz Becker, Independent Art Historian
Xenia Vytuleva, Columbia University
Vladimir Shukhov, great-great-grandson of the tower's original creator and an architect himself
Henry Milner, maker of the Shabolovka Tower model.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov
A remake of what would have happened if the guard found Shukhov's blade in his mitten. Feauturing: Annabelle Recierdo, Albert Recierdo, Raquel Yuhas, and Lindsay Pacheco
**FILMED BY JILLIAN CARLOCK**
Se cumplen 90 años de radiodifusión desde Torre Shújov Imágenes de archivo
La Torre Shújov de Moscú empezó a transmitir programas de radio hace 90 años, el 19 de marzo de 1922. Esta estructura única fue diseñada por el ingeniero y arquitecto ruso Vladímir Shújov.