Ostankino TV tower: observation deck, excursion, photo. Construction of the tower and its height. History of the Ostankino TV tower

The tower in Ostankino is famous for the fact that, being one of the tallest in the world, it is also the most unique reinforced concrete high-rise structure. The designer of the tower, Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin, once said that the tower will stand on the ground until people get tired of it.
The need to build a huge “antenna” in Moscow arose in 1955 due to many pressing problems that needed to be solved. It was necessary to increase the radius of television reception (the Moscow television center on Shabolovka provided a radius of only 60 km), to ensure intercity and international exchange of television programs (including via space communication lines), to organize a system of VHF radiotelephone communications with moving objects, etc.
Before settling in Ostankino, the tower “wandered” around Moscow in projects - in one of the versions it was even intended to be the highest point in Moscow behind Moscow State University.

At the initial design stage, dozens of options for metal antenna supports with a height of up to 500 m were developed. As a rule, these were more or less traditional mast designs with multi-tiered inclined guys. Metal towers of lattice structures were also offered. But all of them were not distinguished by the originality of their architectural design. Only at the beginning of 1958 did a project of a free-standing prestressed reinforced concrete tower of the original design of Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin appear. This project was accepted and subsequently finalized.
The tower barrel should not sway too much under wind pressure, because otherwise the antenna would scatter the waves and the television screens would not provide a stable image. To solve this problem, the project N.V. Nikitin, provide for steel ropes stretched inside the tower trunk. Architect J1.I. Batalov formed the appearance of the concrete frame: two-thirds of the height of the tower trunk will be indivisible and free from any suspensions, then the first platform. Behind it, the concrete shaft rose another 70 m to end in a domed vault, under which there were glazed tiers of observation platforms, communications services, and a restaurant.

The tower project initially frightened the builders due to the lack of a deep foundation, which is usual for a high-rise structure: the base is only 3.5 m thick! Even for an ordinary factory pipe, the foundation was deepened by no less than 5 m. The foundation always acted as a counterweight to the ground part of any structure, and here the role of the foundation was played by the ground lower part of the tower. This is what was most difficult for me to wrap my head around.
Nikitin’s pride is the idea of ​​turning the four supporting legs of the tower into “claws” with which the tower will “grab” into the ground. The tendons of the steel cables force each support to be pressed into the ground with such force that the supports will never creep apart under the gigantic pressure of the concrete shaft. The balanced tension of the cables organizes the work of the supports and connects the entire tower structure into a single system. This construction principle has not yet been applied.
On September 27, 1960, the first cubic meter of concrete was laid at the base of the tower. In 1966, when the builders reached the 385 m mark and completed the monolithic part of the tower shaft, a strong wind swept over Moscow. The upper platform moved underfoot. like a deck with strong pitching. But as soon as the steel ropes, covered with gun fat for safety, pressed against the inner wall of the tower trunk, the tower froze.

There was no experience in operating such structures at that time, therefore, even during the construction of the Ostankino Tower, it was decided to begin research to understand how the structures would behave in practice. Chief designer N.V. Nikitin, absolutely confident that the tower would withstand any hurricane, developed a program for observing the tower.
From the moment the first signals went on the air from Ostankino, continuous observations by a specially created service began. Every day the influence of temperature, wind, sun is determined. Experts believe that reinforced concrete structures experience great stress not only from the wind, but also from the sun. Observations are carried out in accordance with its daily cycle. Most observations are carried out automatically - by instruments. The results are recorded in logs. Observers are confident that the pages of magazines filled with numbers and graphs will interest the engineers of the future. It reflects accurate information about the behavior of concrete and steel at high altitudes and under the heaviest loads, and collects experience in the operation of super-high-rise structures.
On November 4, 1967, the state commission signed an act of acceptance of the 1st stage of the Ostankino All-Union Television Center named after the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The height of the tower at the time of completion of its construction was 533.3 m. (In 1999, the Ostankino tower “grew” to 540 m.) The weight of its foundation is 55,000 tons. The permissible deviation of the top under the influence of wind is 11.65 m.

When in April 1971 a powerful hurricane, which happens once every hundred years, swept over Moscow, the amplitude of the tower’s vibrations reached the maximum recorded value - 3.5 m. However, this did not affect the structures in any way, and this gave rise to the tower’s builders to claim that that it will last five hundred years or more. These words were fully confirmed during the catastrophic fire in August 2000: despite the fact that even part of the cables holding the tower broke, it stood. The gloomy forecasts did not come true.
The tower has 44 floors - more than any building in Moscow. The total usable area of ​​the interior is more than 15 thousand square meters. m. Some of them are located in the foundation of the structure, the other is in a conical base 63 m high.
An important part of the structure is its reinforced concrete foundation. It allowed the tower's center of gravity to be lowered almost to ground level. The total volume of the foundation is 7800 cubic meters. m. Its main element is a decagonal slab, placed at a depth of 3.5 m. The thickness of the slab is about 3 m, the diameter is 70 m. This slab is reinforced with 1040 prestressed wire bundles. In addition, the foundations are laid for the stained glass part, the reinforced concrete central glass and the main staircase.

In the conical base of the television tower, on 17 floors up to a height of 63 m, there will be a lobby, equipment rooms for radio and television transmitting stations, built-in transformer electrical substations, various technical floors, including the kitchen and utility shops of the Seventh Heaven restaurant. Between marks 117 and 147 m there are hardware radio relay communication lines and auxiliary technical services. On the ten floors of the highest building around a reinforced concrete shaft at an altitude of 321-360 m there is an observation deck, round halls of the Seventh Heaven restaurant, a high-rise transformer substation and various technical rooms. Inside the reinforced concrete shaft there are vertical shafts of four high-speed elevators, electrical cables, communication cables and antenna feeders, plumbing pipes and mains. To lift visitors to the high-rise restaurant and observation deck, located at an altitude of 337 m, elevators with a load capacity of up to 1000 kg are used.

From the very beginning, the Ostankino TV Tower became an object attracting tourists. The observation deck offers a beautiful panorama of the city.
Until 1975, the Ostankino Tower was the tallest television tower in the world, losing the championship to the Canadian SN Tower, built in Toronto in 1973-1975.

2. The need to build a high television tower arose back in the 50s. The Ostankino TV tower was supposed to cover the territory of Moscow and the region; for this it was necessary to build a structure about 500 meters high. Among many options, Nikitin’s unique project made of prestressed reinforced concrete was chosen.
The depth of the foundation of the Ostankino TV tower is only 4.6 meters, and this colossus stands firmly in its place.

3. The center of gravity of the TV tower is at an altitude of about 100 meters. Strength is ensured by steel cables stretched inside the tower. The tower spire deviates during gusts of wind by a maximum of 6 meters; in the calculations, the deviation was taken into account with a margin of up to 12 meters.

4. The concrete part of the tower is 385 meters. When the creator was asked how many years the Ostankino TV tower would stand, he replied: “It will definitely stand for three hundred years, but we’ll see.” Operating experience has shown that the safety margin is enormous. The tower even survived the fire in 2000 without any major shocks. Concrete gains strength over the years.

5. There are several elevators inside the tower. The speed of passenger elevators is 7 meters per second. There are height marks on the buttons.

6. We rise to a height of 337 meters. There is an observation deck here. All of Moscow is at your fingertips.

7. The views are stunning. The weather wasn't ideal, but overall we were lucky.

8. VDNKh. Fountain "Friendship of Peoples".

9. Pavilion "Space".

10. Residential development.

11. In good weather, there is also an open observation deck; it is located a little higher.

12. You can also buy souvenirs here.

13. Under the observation deck there is a restaurant complex with a rotating floor.

14. An ideal place for romantic stories.

15. Restaurant specifics: for safety reasons, many dishes are prepared downstairs on the 44th floor and are taken up by high-speed elevators. The tables rotate along with the floor, so you can admire the all-round panorama without leaving your seat.

16. The platform makes a full rotation in about forty minutes.

17. Electric trains of the October Railway.

18. Moscow Processed Cheese Factory. I never knew it was near the TV tower.

19. The food in the restaurant is very tasty. The menu is designed taking into account the fact that the taste sensations at altitude are different from those at ground level. The same effect is observed in aviation.

20. Channel One.

21. Monorail. One of the ways to get to the Ostankino TV tower.

22. Pavilion “Armenia” and again the fountain.

23. Museum of Cosmonautics and a piece of the Cosmos Hotel.

24. The dessert is gorgeous.

25. And the other one is also very good. But okay, stop looking at restaurants.

26. We take the service elevator down to the 85-meter mark. There are no excursions here yet, but this is the best place to view the tower from the inside. In fact, it is a hollow concrete pipe reinforced with steel ropes. There are 145 such ropes.

27. Here you can find telephones from the times of our grandfathers.

28. Mark 85 meters.

29. Near the elevator shaft there are feeders through which the signal is transmitted to the transmitters. Feeders are like very thick coaxial cable. Still, the transmitter power reaches 40 kilowatts. In total there are about 80 transmitters on the TV tower.

30. But this phone calls the service elevator.

31. One of Ostankino’s oldest employees, Anatoly Grigorievich Volkov, told us about the technical structure of the television tower.

32. Nowadays, excursion activities are actively developing at the Ostankino TV Tower. Up to 1300 people come per day. No more than 270 people can be on the tower at the same time, this is due to safety requirements; after the fire, the attitude became stricter. Each visitor has a set of protective equipment.

33. Among the visitors there are many schoolchildren and tourists from abroad. There is even a separate direction in the world - tower tourism. There is the World Federation of High-Rise Towers, which includes the Ostankino TV Tower. Not all high-rise buildings can be included in the federation, but only those that have observation platforms.

34. I really liked the excursion, thanks to the staff of the Ostankino TV tower for the wonderful story, I will definitely come here again with my family. I highly recommend it.
Just in case, I’m posting the tower’s contacts on social networks.
Address of the excursion building: Moscow, st. Academician Koroleva, house 15, bldg. 2.

On August 27, 2000, a fire occurred at the Ostankino TV tower, which killed three people; broadcasting of most Russian television channels to Moscow and the Moscow region was suspended . "Amateur" recalls the history of this tower.

The Ostankino TV Tower is a television and radio broadcasting tower that is the fourth tallest free-standing structure in the world. The height of the Ostankino TV tower is 540 meters. At first it was called “All-Union Radio and Television Transmitting Station named after. 50th anniversary of the USSR". The Ostankino Tower today covers an area inhabited by more than 15 million people.

The TV tower was built by order of the USSR Ministry of Communications

The TV tower was built by order of the USSR Ministry of Communications. The decision to build the tower was made in 1957; construction began in 1963, and it was completed in 1967. Soviet builders needed to build a structure of unprecedented height. At first they planned to build a steel tower based on the principle of a power line mast, but the architect and designer Nikolai Nikitin proposed a different solution. His version was a monolith made of prestressed concrete. Architect N.V. Nikitin came up with the design of the Ostankino Tower in one night, taking as a model an inverted lily flower - a thick stem turning into powerful supporting petals. In the first version, the building had only four supports, and then their number was increased to 10.

The weight of the Ostankino tower was distributed between the base and the trunk in a strict proportion of 1:3. The center of gravity is located at a height of 110 meters, the diameter of the foundation is 63 meters. A trunk of this height must be stable and flexible, but even during strong gusts of wind it must not deviate from the central axis by more than one meter. Such conditions could be ensured by a reliable, strong foundation, which was achieved by tightening the base and boom of the trunk with many steel ropes.

The weight of the tower was distributed in a strict proportion of 1:3

The following people took part in the construction of the tower: chief designer N.V. Nikitin, engineers M.A. Shkud and B.A. Zlobin, chief architect L.I. Batalov, as well as architects D.I. Burdin, M.A. Shkud and L. I. Shchipakin. The artistic embodiment of the tower project was architect Leonid Batalov, who headed workshop No. 7 of Mosproekt.

During the construction of the Ostankino Tower, another innovative find was used - a relatively shallow foundation. Typically, during the construction of such high-rise structures, a deep foundation was used as a counterweight, and for the Ostankino Tower it had a depth of 3.5 to 4.6 m, less than that of a conventional factory chimney. The structure had to rest mainly on the ground, gaining stability due to the multiple excess of the mass of the base over the mass of the mast structure.

When constructing the tower, a shallow foundation was used

Preliminary calculations showed that in a strong wind such a structure has practically no chance of surviving. According to Canadian builders who built a similar tower at home, the foundation must be at least 40 meters high. But Nikitin and his associates managed to successfully solve this problem.

True, it took him ten years to defend his project. Moreover, the critics were stopped not so much by the height of the future tower as by the lack of the usual powerful foundation. The designer argued that the balanced tension of the ropes located inside the tower would connect the entire structure into such a reliable system that it would not be afraid of even the strongest wind. Nikitin said: “A person has an even smaller area of ​​support on his feet, but he doesn’t fall.”

As a result, the project was approved, and on September 27, 1960, construction of the Ostankino Tower began. The construction was completed by raising the multi-ton base of a metal antenna similar to a spike, its size was 148 meters, this event took place on February 12, 1967. The safety margin of the Ostankino TV tower allows it to withstand an earthquake of 8 points on the Richter scale and hurricane winds of 44 meters per second. At the time of construction, the Ostankino TV Tower became the tallest building in the world. In 1970, the main participants in the construction of the TV tower in Moscow were awarded various high government awards.

The safety factor of the TV tower allows it to withstand an earthquake of 8 points

Nikolay Nikitin (Doctor of Technical Sciences, author of the tower design), Dmitry Burdin (chief architect of the project), Moisey Shkud (chief engineer of GSPI), Boris Zlobin - chief engineer of the TsNIIEP project, Lev Shchipakin - director of the research enterprise Proektpromstalkonstruktsiya were awarded the titles of Lenin Laureates awards.

The technical characteristics of the Ostankino tower are as follows: height - 522 m (with a flagpole - 540 m), base height above sea level - 160 m, foundation depth - 4.6 m, weight of the tower with foundation - 51,400 tons. The conical base of the tower has 10 supports , the average distance between supports is 65 m. The maximum theoretical deviation of the top of the tower is 12 m. The main observation deck of the Ostankino Tower is at a level of 337 meters. The supporting area of ​​the foundation is 2,037 square meters. m, and the total usable area of ​​the premises located in the tower is 15,000 sq. m. m.

Let's tell you a little more about the structure of the Ostankino Tower. Up to a height of 385 meters, it is built from pre-stressed concrete. At the 63-meter mark, the diameter narrows to 18 meters, and the upper edge of the concrete part is 7.5 meters thick. Inside the trunk, steel ropes are stretched from top to bottom around the circumference, each of which is stretched with a force of 70 tons. The body of the Ostankino tower is compressed with a force of 10,500 tons, which reliably protects it from destructive external influences.

There are a total of seven elevators in the tower, but only five are currently operational. The speed of the elevators automatically changes depending on the signals from sensors that control the amplitude of the tower's deflection. Electricity is supplied to the elevator cabin by a contactless inductive method using the transformer principle. For this purpose, current collectors are attached to the elevator car, and elements of inductive energy transmission are located in the shaft.

At a level of 337 meters there is a circular observation hall, fenced with glass - from here a breathtaking panorama of Moscow opens. Before a fire broke out in the tower in 2000, the famous Seventh Heaven restaurant was located at an altitude of 328-334 m. It was located on three floors (gold, silver and bronze), each of which made circular rotations around its axis at a speed of one to two revolutions every 40 minutes. Over the course of 30 years, more than 10 million people have visited this restaurant and observation deck.

The building of the excursion building houses the Royal Concert Hall, as well as the directorate of the Moscow regional center of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network”. As a rule, the hall hosts concerts, various theatrical performances, conferences and seminars. The total number of seats in the hall is 750, of which 385 are in the stalls and 392 in the amphitheater.

The creators of the Ostankino TV tower prophesied its life for 300 years, and indeed, it withstood two severe hurricanes, but the fire that started on August 27, 2000 caused enormous damage to it. The outbreak was located at a level of 460 meters, three floors of the tower were completely burned out. During the liquidation of the disaster, three people died: fire crew commander Vladimir Arsyukov, who decided to personally climb to the height of the fire, elevator operator Svetlana Loseva, whom he ordered to go with him, and repairman Alexander Shipilin.

The creators of the Ostankino TV tower prophesied its life of 300 years

Feeders (transmission line, transfer line, electrical device through which the directional propagation of electromagnetic waves from source to consumer), which had external polyethylene shells, burned with great intensity. Burning drops of polyethylene falling down contributed to the outbreak of fires at other levels. When the temperature rose to approximately 1000 degrees Celsius, burning parts of the feeders began to fall down. Firefighters tried to isolate the lower areas with asbestos sheets, but the protruding structures of the Ostankino tower left gaps in them, through which the molten mass still fell down.

The total damage caused to the structure was as follows: out of 150 prestressed reinforcement ropes, 121 were damaged, the elevator facilities were completely out of order, the power supply, ventilation, air conditioning, heat and water supply, communications and alarm systems were disrupted.

The restoration of the Ostankino Tower took seven years. As a result, the structure was again strengthened with cables, non-flammable cables were laid inside, elevators that could withstand very high temperatures, as well as other modern equipment were installed.

The observation deck was completely refurbished in January 2009 and opened for pilot tours in March. Now one-hour tours of the Ostankino TV tower are held daily. On weekends, ticket prices are higher than on weekdays. According to the requirements put forward by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, excursion groups can include more than 30 people. Of the three restaurants, only one is still open.

In the future, it is planned to increase the height of the Ostankino TV tower to 560 meters, thereby making it the tallest television structure in the world.

There are many interesting facts associated with the Ostankino Tower. Races are held along its stairs to a height of 337 meters. And on the 40th anniversary of the tower, base jumpers made their dizzying jumps from it. BASE jumping is one of the most dangerous extreme sports. Its name comes from the English abbreviation B.A.S.E - the first letters of the words building (building), antenna (antenna), span (bridge), earth (in this case - natural relief). It is from these four types of objects that basers jump. Jumping from buildings is the second most dangerous. The Ostankino TV Tower is also mentioned in literary works.

Nikolai Vasilievich Nikitin-

Chief designer of the Ostankino TV tower

N.V. Nikitin was born in the city of Tobolsk. He lived a difficult working life, filled with frequent and drastic changes. When Nikolai was only 17 years old (in 1924), shortly before graduating from school, he was bitten by a snake in the taiga on the leg below the shin. This misfortune left its sad mark for the rest of his life.

After successfully graduating from school with a good “recommendation”, young Nikitin was accepted into the Tomsk Technological Institute. There he first became acquainted with a course of lectures on “Reinforced Concrete Technology”. It should be noted that the artificial material “reinforced concrete” in the modern concept differs in many respects from the building material, the likeness of which was widely known back in Ancient Rome and even earlier. It was repeatedly forgotten in the past by ancient civilizations and this universal material was “discovered” many times. again, each time improving its quality.

While still a student, N.V. Nikitin took an active part in the calculations of reinforced structures of supports, beams and slabs. He was involved in the development of methods for calculating frame structures of civil and industrial facilities. After graduating from the architectural department of the construction faculty of the Tomsk Technological Institute in 1930. His working life began on the construction of a number of objects in Siberia. Already in those early years, his creative approach to solving many engineering problems was distinguished by non-standard thinking and a critical assessment of design solutions.

In the early 30s N.V. Nikitin met Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk, a very unusual, gifted man of that time, who in the outback was engaged in the development of projects, calculations and the invention of mechanisms, ranging from elevators, mine headframes and to calculating the trajectories of spacecraft for interplanetary flights.

In 1932 After the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry and Energy announced an open competition for the project of a powerful wind power plant in Crimea, which was planned to be built on the top of Mount Ai-Petri, at the invitation of Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk, Nikolai Vasilyevich came to Moscow. Soon the entire project team of specialists went to Crimea to develop and implement the project at the construction site.

The architectural image of the Crimean Wind Power Plant (WPP) created with the participation of N.V. Nikitina was very laconic, original and looked very modern. He received first prize. The wind farm resembled a mighty twin-engine plane hovering above the ground, as if turned from a horizontal to a vertical plane. By rotating its two powerful screws installed at different levels, the power plant created a large (at that time) amount of electricity, so necessary to illuminate cities and the azure coast of Crimea.

Sketch of the Crimean wind power plant (WPP) with a design height of 165 m. Drawing by N. V. Nikitin.

At this site N.V. Nikitin first began to develop a number of fundamental theories and structural calculations for tower-type structures, including the study of the static and dynamic effects of wind loads on a high-rise flexible structure. Issues of practical application of highly reinforced concrete structures, the main load-bearing elements of units, including the basics of their construction in sliding formwork, were thought through.

For a number of reasons, the actual wind farm project was not implemented at that time, however, theoretical prerequisites, some features of the theory of calculating high-rise tower structures under the influence of static and dynamic loads, the need to take into account harmonic vibrations and a number of other problems, subsequently formed the basis for the calculation of the Ostankino television station towers, significantly higher than the Crimean wind farm project.

Nikolai Vasilyevich worked a lot and persistently during the Patriotic War, participating in the development of projects for the restoration of factories and plants moved to the east, the products of which were so necessary for the front.

And the post-war years were also not easy. It was necessary to restore cities, factories and industrial facilities, and quickly build millions of square meters of residential and industrial space. And this could only be done on an industrial basis using new construction methods and using factory reinforced concrete elements - slabs, beams and trusses of various standard spans and sizes. Nikolai Vasilyevich takes an active part in this very important matter and for the development of a project for monolithic “shed” structures for industrial buildings he received a high state award - the title of Laureate of the Stalin (State) Prize. He also received government awards.

In subsequent years, N.V. Nikitin was directly involved in the design and development of structural schemes of structures that had not previously been encountered in the world practice of constructing unique objects.

In 1945, construction began on the Moscow State University building on the Lenin Hills. As the chief designer of the Promstroyproekt, Nikitin took part in its construction. Moreover, Nikitin box foundations were installed for all six high-rise buildings in Moscow. But later, when developing the tower structure of the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw, instead of a box foundation, Nikitin already used a powerful, prestressed reinforced concrete slab on which the square frame of the tower was mounted.

In this project, Nikitin managed to increase the permissible limits of rigid connections and connect the center of rigidity of the entire palace structure with loads organically distributed across all nodal points of the building. The palace-tower resembles a staircase, with its ledges, like steps, directed towards the “celestial world”. A fundamentally new box-shaped system of connections with a square base in the lower part, supported by four corner pylons, was also considered as the initial version of the base of the television tower in Ostankino.

For active participation in the introduction of new construction methods using prefabricated reinforced concrete elements - slabs, beams, trusses of various standard spans and for the development of a project for monolithic "shed" structures for industrial N.V. Nikitin, as part of the creative team, was awarded the title of laureate of the Stalin (later State) Prize. He also received numerous government awards.

In 1957, Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin became the chief designer of Mosproekt and a corresponding member of the Academy of Construction and Architecture. In subsequent years, N.V. Nikitin was directly involved in the design and development of structural schemes of structures that had not previously been encountered in the world practice of constructing unique objects. His ideas and design developments were used in the construction of the grandiose Motherland monument on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd and a number of other objects.

It should be noted the unusually wide range of his creative interests in all areas of construction science and technology. But mainly, the name of Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin is inextricably linked with the creation of the Ostankino television tower, which received high praise and worldwide recognition. For the first time in the USSR, in 1967, a tower was built, which in its height was almost twice as high as the world famous Eiffel Tower in Paris. An article was written about this project, which was enthusiastically received by many specialists at the regular session of the International Federation for Prestressed Concrete (FIP) in 1966. The team of authors led by N.V. Nikitin, which included B.A. Zlobin, M.A. Shkud, D.I. Burdin and L.N. Shchipakin for the project of a reinforced concrete prestressed television tower in Ostankino was awarded the Lenin Prize in the field of construction for 1990.

The Ostankino TV Tower is the main center of radio and television broadcasting in Moscow and Russia, which is the largest multidisciplinary enterprise with powerful technological equipment that ensures the broadcast of 9 radio programs and 11 television channels via extensive radio relay lines and space communication systems. The Ostankino TV Tower is very popular among specialists, Muscovites and numerous tourists coming to the capital from all over the world.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the successful operation of the Ostankino TV tower, dozens of articles have been written and published, a book has been written about it - “The Tallest TV Tower in Europe”, which can be bought at the TV tower at the address: Moscow, st. Academician Koroleva, 15. (Tel. for inquiries 283-43-90 or 282-43-40).

Being a brilliant and talented designer, N.V. Nikitin generously and widely shared his knowledge with many specialists working in the field of construction of high-rise buildings. Numerous groups from Japan came to him for consultations, who intended to build a tower city 4 km high. At N.V. Nikitin were specialist designers from Canada who developed a design for a reinforced concrete television tower with a height of 350 m, and in fact, after a meeting with Nikolai Vasilyevich, they increased its height to 553 m, only 13 m higher than our Ostankino television tower. During the construction of the television tower in Ostankino N.V. Nikitin hosted numerous groups of specialists from near and far abroad, generously sharing with them his wealth of construction experience.

Specialists from the State Specialized Design Institute (GSPI-RT), who designed dozens of different radio and television towers throughout our country, noted that reinforced concrete towers in the city. Tallinn, Vilnius, Baku, Novorossiysk and others are, as it were, the second generation of towers. They were designed and built taking into account theoretical theoretical prerequisites and design developments, which at one time were carried out under the leadership of N.V. Nikitin and successfully implemented during the construction of the Ostankino TV tower with a height of 540 meters.

N.V. Nikitin took an active part in a number of foreign symposiums, conferences and congresses dedicated to high-rise buildings, worthily representing and defending the priority of Soviet science and construction technology of that time.

He was awarded a number of government awards, awarded the State and Lenin Prizes, had the title of professor, doctor of technical sciences, Honored Builder of the RSFSR. His followers successfully work at JSC TsNIIEP named after architect B.S. Mezentsev, where he worked for many years, and where they remember him with gratitude.

Less known are other unique projects of N.V. Nikitin in the field of building structures: all the “Stalinist” high-rise buildings, the Memorial in Ulyanovsk, the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, the building of the Council of Ministers in Tashkent, the unrealized Palace of the Soviets in Moscow and many others.

Ideas N.V. Nikitin in the field of construction equipment, industrialization of industrial and civil construction, new methods for calculating building structures, research on structural diagrams of structures and the search for rational structural forms previously unknown in world practice, work on the theory of reinforced concrete and the dynamics of structures are stages in the development of domestic construction science and technology. Involvement in solving the most important construction problems and the work of N.V. Nikitin had a great influence on the formation of the national engineering school.

Works by N.V. Nikitin’s work in high-rise construction in Moscow is continued by his students. They are creating the City Center and many other high-rise buildings that have decorated the capital in recent years. N.V. himself Nikitin managed to calculate the possibility of building a skyscraper a thousand meters high (this is exactly the height that new skyscrapers in the United States are planning to raise on the site of the World Trade Organization towers).

Design engineer N.V. Nikitin was far ahead of his time, not only in what was planned, but also in what was implemented. However, the name of the great creator, who amazed the world in the sixties and seventies of the last century, is today undeservedly forgotten. Even in Moscow, where he worked selflessly for most of his life, not a single street is named after him, there are no memorial places associated with his name... There is not even a memorial plaque on the house in which he lived. Over the years, comrades-in-arms raised the question of naming (according to tradition) the Ostankino Tower the name of its author, but this proposal also remained unfulfilled.

ARTICLE AND INTERVIEW WITH N.V. NIKITIN

Random high altitude climber

Somehow it happened that I met Nikitin just a year before his death, when he was already a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, an order bearer and the author of the project for the Ostankino TV tower, which was then built at that time, the tallest building in the world. Many enthusiastic words have already been written about him, or rather, about the most important project of his life, about this very tower, and about other construction projects in which he took part: the House of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Moscow State University on the Lenin Hills, the monument to the Mother of God. The Motherland on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd and many other projects that had already been commissioned or only existed in sketches, but were never implemented, which were no less grandiose in size and significance.

Therefore, he himself seemed to match these projects, if not so impressive in size, then at least in his significant appearance and demeanor. After all, very often you involuntarily transfer a person’s affairs onto himself. Although this does not always coincide.

The reality turned out to be somewhat different from what the imagination depicted. It’s not that she didn’t completely correspond to my ideas - she was just different. Even the appearance of the institution where he then worked did not correspond to its sonorous name: the Moscow Department of Construction of Sports and Entertainment Facilities. In fact, it was a dull, squat, unprepossessing building of one or two floors (I don’t even remember exactly now), which stood along Kirov Street between Kiselny Lane and Sretensky Boulevard, just opposite the Main Post Office. Soon after our meeting, it was demolished and a green wooden fence was erected for many years, which was supposed to show passers-by that something was being built behind it, although in fact nothing was being built, but that was the custom.

Nikitin’s office resembled a foreman’s office at some ordinary construction site, where people come to current meetings, where they sign orders and get good percentages. A medium-sized room with simple filing cabinets, a simple desk and chairs. No frills, no ostentatious wealth - everything is designed for business communication, exchange of opinions and a quick meeting on current issues. We talked about daily matters and got to work.

The owner behaved naturally. To say that he expressed joy in connection with my visit would be an exaggeration, although he greeted me quite favorably, ready to answer all my questions. One might say, with the understanding that a journalist has such a job and that he needs help, so he helped.

Outwardly, Nikitin did not look so harsh, but rather a serious man. But this applied not only to the visitor, but, as I later realized, to myself as well.

Naturally, my first question concerned his “high-rise” orientation, his commitment to high-rise design.

“It just happened by chance,” Nikolai Vasilyevich corrected me. - All my life I was really only interested in reinforced concrete. Its behavior under different construction conditions. And in all these high-rise buildings, reinforced concrete was used. So I was invited to take part in projects as a specialist in this material. Well, and also as a specialist in wind loads - a very difficult problem in such construction.

- But somehow it turned out that first of all they turned to you, and not to some other “reinforced concrete worker” or “high-altitude worker.” So the Japanese, when they got ready to build a super-high-rise television tower, they asked you to work on such a project. And the building is three hundred floors!..

And yet, I was always only interested in concrete in life, and everything else was a derivative of it. This is very interesting material. There are still so many unknowns hidden in it for me, although I devoted forty-five years of my life to designing structures from it.

In general, I must say that in life a lot happens by chance. This is also a building of three hundred floors. One day a correspondent came and let’s just pull the veins, saying that they’ve come up with something new. I persisted and persisted and, in the end, told about this building of three hundred floors. By the way, there is nothing sensational or supernatural in it. Everything is simple and understandable: everyone wants to live in the center of cities, closer to work, shops, entertainment venues, and so on. Today's megacities have grown in width, reached incredible sizes and no longer meet many of the requirements of residents. But in such a tower, or rather, a tower house, you can immediately place offices, residential apartments, restaurants, shops, gyms, garages for personal cars - everything. You don’t have to go far to work, or relax, or go shopping - everything is at hand, everything is nearby. Very comfortably. Moreover, modern materials allow the construction of such structures...

- Will this be your favorite concrete?

No. In any case, concrete will be used in very small quantities, where it cannot be avoided. And basically this building will be constructed from light metal panels, glass and plastics, composite materials. Everything should be durable and light. In short, it is not at all difficult to prove that such construction is necessary and possible. There is no fantasy in it - pure pragmatism. And if journalists see something special, sensational in such a structure, then builders and designers are only a continuation of the search for their predecessors. On a new level, of course.

By the way, if you look closely at various kinds of new products, it is easy to see continuity, development of the idea, an analogy to what was used earlier. In the old, pre-revolutionary times, houses were built according to a very reasonable and simple scheme: two walls outside, two walls inside, and partitions between them. From time to time, these transverse partitions could be rebuilt and moved, turning the premises into a business establishment, a hotel, or a living space. During their lives, they changed functionally many times, but always remained within the same walls. The filling changed, but the house itself remained outwardly untouched.

So a huge building with three hundred floors can be reshaped for a variety of functions, leaving it all the same. So it is in vain that we strive for originality for the sake of originality itself. An analogy can be very helpful.

- Did you design the Ostankino TV tower by analogy or did you come up with it from start to finish? - I couldn’t resist asking.

You could say there was both. Shortly before I got to the discussion of projects for the construction of a television tower, I was on a business trip to the German city of Stuttgart and saw the television tower there. It was built from reinforced concrete, which, in fact, attracted my attention. Everything was clear in it: how each element works, how the loads are distributed, etc. I figured right there, in the cafe, that a similar one could be built at a higher height. Not like the Stuttgart one - only 210 meters, but five hundred meters and even more. So, when the discussion was going on and the most fantastic options were proposed, even to the point that they were planning to build the tower inclined from steel, I spoke in favor of a reinforced concrete vertical option...

- Could an inclined one be built?

Of course, it was possible to build one, but it would occupy a huge area, and additional difficulties would arise during operation. So my option seemed preferable to everyone, and I was immediately offered to submit a more or less substantiated project within a week. I presented it, and they began to work on it. Journalists squeezed a sensation out of this detail. For some reason they did not take into account that this tower - or rather, how it could look, how it should be built - I had long been in my thoughts and sketches. Just like that, for the soul. All that remained was to transfer these thoughts onto whatman paper...

- But the difference in height - 210 and 535 meters - still imposed its own characteristics. I don’t think it was a direct analogy, a simple increase of two and a half times...

Of course, this was not a repetition, only on a slightly different scale. I had to make new calculations. But I'm talking about the principle of construction. Here we are talking about analogy not as a blind repetition, but as a use of what has already been found, based on which one could go further.

By the way, as an example, we can cite the story of the radio tower, which was built according to the design of engineer Shukhov on Shabolovka in Moscow. At that time, a project for radio broadcasting antennas was also discussed.

New baskets for papers woven from willow twigs were brought to the institution where Shukhov worked. In the evening, when all the employees had gone home, and he himself was late at work, he saw how the cleaning lady, while wiping the floors, put a heavy pot of flowers on an overturned basket, and it stood under such a load. Then Shukhov sat down on the basket - it withstood this weight, although it was adapted for something completely different. It would seem that such fragile-looking willow twigs should break, but woven according to the formula of a hyperboloid of rotation turned out to be surprisingly strong. So the tower, built according to this principle, has been standing for many decades.

So the analogy is quite a worthy thing.

About the benefits of doubt

I don’t know how to define this, but Nikitin contradicted himself in some ways and was not always consistent. At least that's how it seemed to me. His older comrade (the age difference is ten years) Yuri Kondratyuk admired Nikolai Vasilyevich precisely because he always tried to look at every thing or situation “on the contrary.” They met when Nikitin graduated from the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, and as a couple they traveled around the country, participating in the design and construction of various industrial facilities. They built elevators in Altai, and factory buildings in Siberia and the Urals. Kondratyuk (real name and surname - Alexander Ignatievich Shargei), who did not have an officially issued diploma, came to a new place of work and reported that he was an engineer, and what kind of engineer his work would show. Nikitin was usually responsible for calculating wind loads and the behavior of reinforced concrete.

Perhaps the most fantastic project they worked on together was the construction of a giant wind power plant on Mount Ai Petri in Crimea. So, true to himself, Kondratyuk proposed an original layout of the rotor and stator.

I don’t remember how everything was arranged there, I only know that everything that usually stands still was spinning, and all the rotating parts were tightly attached. Yuri Vasilyevich proved that this will provide certain advantages.

Kondratyuk’s project was accepted, but all others were rejected because they could not compete with his proposal. Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who at that time oversaw all heavy industry, took patronage of the construction. When Ordzhonikidze died, repressions began that affected many specialists who were under his patronage. For Nikitin and Kondratyuk, the trouble was over, but the construction of the wind farm was stopped. Soon the war began, and everything died out completely. The wind farm project was not returned to. And Kondratyuk, who joined the people’s militia in the first months of the war, died, where and how exactly is still unknown.

Nikitin liked Kondratyuk’s habit of looking at things from a different perspective, although he was not against doing things by analogy.

Uncooperative opportunist

The main passion of his life, as I said, was reinforced concrete. He carried his loyalty to it, so to speak, throughout his life, and it was strange to hear how he spoke so enthusiastically about this, in general, boring subject. It is surprising that with all his experience, he did not impose his opinion on this material as mandatory, the only correct one. He seemed to admit other judgments, he was ready to listen to them, but... His book, which he wrote at the very end of his life, was called: “Some considerations regarding the construction of concrete structures.” She seemed to invite him to argue, to express a different point of view, as if he was not sure that he was right, and admitted the existence of another point of view, other thoughts. I couldn't resist and told him about it.

You see,” Nikitin replied, “I am absolutely confident that I am right and can prove any of my statements with calculations.” But let people express their reasons, if any.

- It turns out that you are not particularly confident in your calculations? That's how the title of your book reads, anyway.

No, I am absolutely confident in my opinion. But we must give the other side the opportunity to express their opinion... For this attention to the views of my opponents, I am sometimes called an opportunist...

- What if other people’s arguments still aren’t convincing? What then?

Well, if someone’s arguments turned out to be less convincing, then I’ll fight to the end...

Nikitin has always been a workaholic in everything. True, at the time when we met, this term was not as widely used as it is now. But if we make allowances for the time, now they would say about him exactly like that. He was always busy with something, his hands, his head were constantly working.

He tried to talk less about himself, and if he said something, it was of an informational nature, without the desire to stick out his figure. Every day he got up at six o'clock in the morning so that before work he had time to think about something for his soul. This “for the soul” could be of a very serious nature, although it did not relate to his main business, his official position. Oddly enough, most often it was the same reinforced concrete.

He received his State Prize for this extracurricular work: the introduction of movable formwork into industrial construction. It seems that you couldn’t get more boring, but Nikitin was not bored. By his example, he once again proved that you can find application for your strengths and abilities everywhere - if only you have the desire.

And other people, as I understand it, he assessed everything according to the same criterion: how they related to work. We talked about his school teachers, institute teachers, work comrades, and if, from his point of view, they were faithful to their work, he, giving them a description, always added: “A very worthy person” or “A person of the most worthy qualities.” And when I asked about the details, it turned out that the most important quality of these people was the ability to work.

I think this respect for work came from my parents. They were poorly educated people. My father was a clerk in the judicial chamber all his life. He was illiterate, but had beautiful handwriting, so his family traveled with him around Western Siberia, surviving on his modest earnings. Mother remained a housewife all her life, and the entire well-being of the household rested on her shoulders. She, as I understood, was the head of the house. And the son’s receipt of an engineering diploma became a great holiday and triumph: their son became a scientist. Until his very last years, Nikitin regretted that he did not have time to please his mother with any major successes in his work.

The Ostankino Tower could have been such a gift, but the parents did not live to see this day.

Many cities around the world are famous for their famous towers, rising hundreds of meters and visible in all surroundings. For example, the Eiffel has long become a symbol of love and romance not only for Parisians, but also for residents of the whole world. No less famous is the Ostankino TV Tower, located in Moscow. It is the tallest building in Europe. In addition, for ten years it exceeded the size of all the world's structures. This majestic structure has been considered a symbol of Russian television for almost half a century. It is not surprising that the question of what is the height of the Ostankino Tower is of such interest to city guests.

The beginning of the creation of the TV tower

The history of the creation of this grandiose structure begins in the 60s of the last century. Of course, television and radio broadcasts were carried out even earlier - from the late 30s. Then the Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka coped with this task. But after the Great Patriotic War, they decided to improve the quality of broadcasting.

To do this, it was necessary to build a new, more advanced tower. In accordance with the task, the height of the Ostankino tower should have been at least five hundred meters. In addition, the spirit of competition was also of a certain importance - there were no similar buildings on the planet, so the Soviet Union had the opportunity to again prove its superiority over other countries.

Nikolai Nikitin became the chief engineer. Interestingly, he developed the project in just one night. The image that inspired Nikitin was an inverted lily - with a strong stem and petals supporting the structure. According to the plan, it was planned to build four supports for the tower, but then, on the recommendation of Fritz Leonhardt, an engineer from Germany, they decided to increase their number to ten.

When constructing the structure, reinforced concrete was used, which was compressed from the inside with strong steel cables. Thanks to this, the structure became durable and wind-resistant. According to the project, the estimated height of the Ostankino tower in meters was 533 m, but later a flag was added and it increased to 540 m. Construction of the structure lasted four years - from 1963 to 1967. Over 40 different research institutes, dozens of construction organizations and factories took part in its creation , as well as all kinds of ministries and departments of the country.

The largest achievement of domestic technology and science

In 1967, the first stage of the tower was put into operation, and the second one the following year. For the creation of this design, many of the participants were rewarded with high state awards. Interestingly, the height of the Ostankino Tower is far from its only advantage. She performed many tasks of national importance.

In addition to broadcasting television and radio programs for residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, they were distributed throughout the country thanks to special relay equipment. In addition, the tower provided direct radiotelephone communication between the head of state and the main ministries. And also thanks to it, a unique meteorological observatory appeared, with the help of which the main meteorological center of the country was able to monitor weather phenomena.

Tower design

Undoubtedly, the height of the Ostankino Tower is the first thing that has attracted tourists to it since 1969. However, besides this there is something to see! The magnificent structure has 45 floors. Inside the tower there are endless lines for television and radio antennas. The internal space, which mainly includes halls and laboratories, is equipped with a sewerage system, water supply and telephone communications. Useful area - more than 15 thousand square meters. m. The building has 7 high-speed elevators. At the ground level there is the Museum of Radio and Television Broadcasting, where anyone can find out how construction was carried out, get acquainted with the biographies of the project creators and designers, and also get an answer to the question of how tall the Ostankino Tower is.

Sudden fire

During the development and construction of the structure, all possible problems were taken into account: the tower is able to withstand any hurricane, and is not afraid of earthquakes and lightning. However, she could not resist the fire. The fire broke out in August 2000 and engulfed three floors. Of the 149 cables holding the structure together, 120 could not cope with the load and burst, but the remaining 20 still held up and did not allow the tower to fall.

This tragedy caused enormous damage to the structure. The fire, which took more than fifteen hours to extinguish, claimed three lives. It is called the largest man-made disaster in independent Russia.

Restaurant "Seventh Heaven" with an extraordinary view of the city

The brightest attraction of the tower is undoubtedly the Seventh Heaven restaurant, located at an altitude of 328-334 m. It welcomed guests from its opening until 2000 and was located on three floors at once. Each of them had a separate hall: “Bronze”, “Silver” and “Gold”.

The total area of ​​the establishment was about 600 square meters. m. Due to a fire, as a result of which all the premises of the restaurant burned out, it had to be closed for reconstruction. Undoubtedly, visitors to Seventh Heaven were attracted by the extraordinary height of the Ostankino Tower. But the main highlight of this establishment were special platforms, thanks to which the restaurant could rotate, making from one to three full revolutions around its axis per hour. Therefore, visitors could not only enjoy a wonderful holiday, but also, thanks to the glass walls, admire a magnificent view of the city.

It was especially beautiful and exciting at night. The renovated restaurant is scheduled to open in the summer of 2015. During its existence, it has already been visited by millions of tourists, and, without any doubt, it will regain its former popularity.

Famous observation deck

The height of the observation deck of the Ostankino Tower is 337 meters, and it occupies a leading place in the world. Until 2000, more than ten million tourists visited it. After the fire it was closed for reconstruction, which lasted eight years.

Since the end of 2010, excursions have been held every day. There are two sites: open and closed. On the first of them you can enjoy an amazing view of the picturesque panorama of the city and at the same time test your courage - the floor is made of glass, so only the bravest dare to walk on it. The circular hall is rightfully considered the most spectacular observation deck in the capital.

Concert hall

Another attraction of the Ostankino TV Tower is the brilliant concert hall. The name “Royal” suits it perfectly. The hall is located in the excursion building. Now it hosts numerous concert programs, theatrical performances, expositions, conferences and other events and special occasions.

Legends

According to local residents, ghosts are even seen here from time to time. The most famous of them is the ghost of an old woman who has been living here for many decades. People claimed to have seen a strange old woman shortly before the fire in 2000. Tower employees have repeatedly seen deceased television stars of yesteryear in the corridors. This is usually explained by the huge archive of films stored within the walls of the tower. You can have different attitudes towards these legends, but in any case they add charm and color to this magnificent building.

Sports events

Before the tragic fire occurred on the tower, races were regularly held up its stairs to a height of 337 meters. The record is almost 12 minutes.

On the 40th anniversary of the tower, it hosted exciting BASE jumping competitions (parachute jumping from high-altitude objects). A record number of participants was recorded: 30 people jumped at the same time.

The tower surpasses all similar buildings in its value to society, in its functional capacity, as well as in the rational use of the areas and premises of the building. It is part of the International Federation of Great Towers.

Despite the fact that the height of the Ostankino tower is as much as 540 m, experts are confident that it will not topple. This is due to the fact that the center of gravity of the structure will never go beyond the support area.

Another interesting feature of the tower is its small foundation. It averages only four meters. At the same time, according to experts from Canada who built a similar structure, the foundation of such a structure should be at least 40 meters. However, thanks to the unique design, the tower turned out to be strong and stable.

The total weight of the structure including the foundation is about 55 thousand tons.

According to the design, the tower can stand for one and a half centuries, however, the creators predict that it will live for at least three hundred years.

There are plans to expand the structure in the future. If this comes true, the height of the Ostankino tower in meters will be 560 meters. Thus, it will become the most impressive television structure in the world.

The height of the Ostankino Tower in Moscow has been attracting tourists to its walls for decades. And it doesn’t matter that this is far from the tallest building in the world. The Ostankino TV Tower remains a majestic and beautiful symbol of its time.