architecture

hands down, the coolest skyscraper ever made

by deputydog ⋅ 16 / 02 / 2008 ⋅ post a comment

note: believe it or not, every now and then i receive emails from people who aren’t trying to sell me penis pumps and viagra. today i recieved what could be the best ever from a guy calling himself threepwood, the contents of which form a lot of the following post.

before today i didn’t realise this building existed but it’s so fucking incredible that as soon as a photo of it flashed before my eyes it instantly rocketed to the top of my non-existent ‘favourite buildings’ list. there are so many reasons to love this beauty that it’s hard to know where to start. it’s got 13 floors which, to me at least, makes it a skyscraper. it’s entirely made of wood, thus making it a wooden skyscraper. it was made by the fair hands of a single crazy russian man (nikolai sutyagin - pictured bare-chested above), thus making it a homemade wooden skyscraper.

brilliant.

based in the russian city of archangelsk, ex-gangster nikolai originally intended the building to contain 2 floors but couldn’t help himself when he realised there was nothing to stop him adding more on top. nothing, that is, apart from the slow-off-the-mark local authorities who say that wooden buildings shouldn’t exceed 2 floors in height, the result being that the 144ft high building is now under threat of demolition, something which would be an absolute travesty in my opinion. slightly crazy but creative ex-gangster russian architects should be given free reign to build whatever they like.

this building is an absolute work of art.

there’s some low-quality video goodness to consume below.

sources: 1, 2

discussion

27 comments for “hands down, the coolest skyscraper ever made”

  1. Thats awesome! I dont know if I’d trust to walk up to the upper floors, but it certainly is magnificent looking.
    I wonder if the people who did the set design ever saw this place. It reminds me an awful lot of how The Burrow (where the Weasley family lives) is supposed to look.
    Heres a link to a pic from the Harry Potter movies, but its not a great shot.
    http://www.veritaserum.com/info/places/

    posted by Elphaba | 16th of February, 2008, 9:07 am

  2. It reminds me a little bit of the Broken Angel House in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, another amazing (though less vertically ambitious) home-made castle. Like basically everything else in New York, it was going to be torn down until they figured out a way to turn it into condos.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Angel

    posted by Gary | 16th of February, 2008, 9:12 am

  3. Un other such a story : The incredible castle built by a french mailman who began one day by picking up a stone on his way.
    Photos here: http://sadtomato.net/cheval/

    Official site here : http://www.facteurcheval.com/

    posted by Vegas | 16th of February, 2008, 9:32 am

  4. This is nice as well
    http://kizhi.karelia.ru/fotogalery/scripkin_winter/galery_e.htm
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizhi

    posted by Toruk | 16th of February, 2008, 1:30 pm

  5. If the thing was complete, it’d be like my absolute dream house. Someone give the man a few millions to finish it… …please?

    …nobody? >_>

    posted by Me | 16th of February, 2008, 3:47 pm

  6. Russia. The land of the free.

    Don’t bother trying this in a fascist western country.

    posted by zmc | 17th of February, 2008, 4:08 am

  7. I see this building from office :)

    posted by Renny | 17th of February, 2008, 2:39 pm

  8. Here in Spain we have something similar: A dude who is building a big cathedral with is hands, and he knows nothing about architecture:

    http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_Justo

    My father (he works calculating building structures) visited it, and sais it is a real danger, and he knows what he is talking about!.

    posted by Sergio Hernandez | 18th of February, 2008, 2:54 am

  9. i wouldn’t go on the upper floors as well, looks cool though…

    posted by Omega | 18th of February, 2008, 4:40 am

  10. In Russia there are many people, who build and build there own houses all life)

    posted by Diman | 21st of February, 2008, 2:00 am

  11. Fantastic effort - great style as well. He probably should get someone to check how safe it is - doesn’t look like it’ll hold up to a storm in its present condition. He’d better finish it quick or be really careful about putting anything too valuable in there.

    posted by Korolev | 26th of February, 2008, 1:14 am

  12. Glad I didn’t put an offer in on that building!

    posted by mommy | 26th of February, 2008, 9:15 am

  13. Frank Gehry, eat your heart out!!

    posted by Jack | 4th of March, 2008, 2:20 pm

  14. hi renny,
    where is this building located?
    can you provide a link in google maps??
    thanks

    quote “I see this building from office

    posted by renny | 17th of february, 2008, 2:39 pm”

    posted by zee | 3rd of April, 2008, 8:03 am


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