Gas holders are iconic buildings in the territory of the Arma business complex. They housed the offices of his leadership, and various restaurants and clubs, including cult, famous and semi-closed ones, found their place here.
Gas holders - towers for storing and distributing gas - were built in the 19th century, when gas was used mainly for lighting and was produced by burning coal, rather than supplied by a gas pipeline. Now these towers - large cylinders of brick, usually with facades in the spirit of historicism, have become prominent monuments of industrial architecture all over the world, capable of drawing attention to any reconstructed territory, giving it a romantic meaning. Who wouldn't want to live in a tower? Sergei Lukyanenko wrote a couple of books about this even before he plunged into the abyss of loyalty. So, the famous Viennese gas meters are residential buildings.
Our gas tanks are offices and clubs. They lined up in a row in the depths of the Arma business cluster, which inherited its name from the plant for the production of gas shut-off equipment, which was moved outside the city, and occupied the territory of the Moscow Gas Plant after the war. A plant that produced lighting gas from coal has existed here since the 1860s. The towers are the oldest of its surviving buildings, the same age as the two-storey houses for workers, built along the path to the Kurskaya metro station along Nizhny Susalny lane.
Both were built by Rudolf Bernhard, their facades are similar. And by the way: our Moscow gas tanks differed from European ones, including Vienna ones, in that their floors were deepened by 10 meters into the ground - this created pressure of gas entering the pipes, it was more efficient and safer, since it reduced the likelihood of an accidental leak. For huge tanks, Rudolf Bernhard developed a special design of unsupported slabs. More than 40 years later - during the first reconstruction - they were replaced, it is possible that according to the project of Vladimir Shukhov, who used mesh and vaulted metal structures here, which he tested in the rotunda pavilion built for the All-Russian exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896.
During the renovation of the 2000s, Moscow gas tanks were cleaned of paint, dirt and mold, then the brick walls were painted brown and one floor was added, supported by a panoramic window with views of the surroundings: the territory of "Arma" and the neighboring "Winzavod". A circular panoramic window at the top of each tower, visually supporting the new roof of the towers made of folded metal - built using TATPROF glazing technologies; the wide cornice is finished with cassettes made of composite material with a seam imitation.
All gasholder windows are large, with arched beam bridges at the top, and glass entrance groups, some of which are equipped with integrated spider visors, are made using anodized TATPROF profile of the TPT-65 series. The arcuate window finishes, almost obligatory for the 19th century and hardly familiar in the 21st, required individual drawings and the participation of TATPROF specialists in their installation.
Windows and entrances of detached administrative buildings are made of non-anodized aluminum profiles from TATPROF and Reynaers.
Reliable, aesthetic and easy-to-install architectural system "TATPROF" helps to create modern translucent facades, roofs, windows, doors, winter gardens and balconies. The TATPROF window and door series TPT-65 is the most technologically advanced: the assembly of products using modern corner and T-shaped connectors makes it possible to solve non-standard problems in the design and manufacture of stained glass structures both for modern buildings and for the reconstruction of historical buildings. And several standard sizes of a profile for different operating conditions allow using the TPT-65 system of the TATPROF company in many climatic zones of Russia.
