Shukhov's hyperboloid structures are a type of load-bearing engineering structure based on the shape of a hyperboloid of revolution (a three-dimensional figure produced by rotating a hyperbolic curve around an axis). Invented by engineer Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov, they were first presented to the public in 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896. Nizhny Novgorod thus became the birthplace of a constructive principle that later spread around the world.[1][2]

The first structures at the 1896 Nizhny Novgorod Exhibition

In January 1896 Shukhov patented lattice hyperboloid structures, and that same summer, at the XVI All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, he erected several structures made of latticed metal: eight pavilions with light latticed roofs, a round rotunda, and a water tower 37 meters tall. The lattice parabolic glazed vaults of the pavilions rested on similarly latticed supports shaped as hyperboloids of revolution. The tower simultaneously supplied the exhibition with water and served as an observation platform.[1][2] The structures made a great impression on visitors with their airiness; contemporaries compared the tower to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.[2]

After the exhibition closed, the water tower was bought by philanthropist and manufacturer Yury Stepanovich Nechaev-Maltsov, who had it dismantled and moved to his estate in the village of Polibino (now Lipetsk Oblast), where the tower was reassembled under Shukhov's personal supervision. It is this very structure that has survived to this day as the world's first hyperboloid tower, and it is a federally protected cultural heritage site.[2]

The design principle and its advantages

Shukhov said: "What looks beautiful is strong. The human eye is accustomed to the proportions of nature, and in nature what survives is what is strong and expedient."[3] Hyperboloid towers were notable for their low cost, light weight, and ease of assembly: each successive section was riveted together on the ground and pulled up through the upper ring of the previous one, then bolted into place. Shukhov worked out optimal technical parameters for the structures to suit different engineering tasks and clients' economic means, and also devised a universal principle of graphic design for a project that made complex spatial structures easier to understand.[3] Shukhov secured authorship of the hyperboloid lattice tower principle with privilege patent "Lattice Tower" No. 1896 dated March 12, 1899.[3]

Researcher G. M. Kovelman noted that, by developing the principle of serial construction from repeating elements, Shukhov opened a new chapter in the development of industrial production and was years ahead of foreign engineering.[3]

Spread across Russia and the world

Following its success in Nizhny Novgorod, hyperboloid roof structures quickly appeared in Moscow: on the roofs of the Metropol restaurant, the Main Post Office, the Muir and Mirrielees department store (later TsUM), the Upper Trading Rows on Red Square (GUM), and the platform canopy of Bryansky (now Kievsky) railway station.[1] Shukhov applied the same principle in designing lattice lighthouses, power-line pylons, latticed ship masts, and the radio tower on Shabolovka. In 1907 hyperboloid masts appeared on new Russian battleships, and in 1910 on American battleships: the taller and stronger the masts, the farther and more reliably radio communication worked.[1] The famous TV Tower was structurally a fivefold-enlarged copy of the water tower from the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition.[1]

Under Shukhov's direction, about 200 towers were built across Russia, of which fewer than 30 survive today.[3] After the revolution Shukhov no longer created fundamentally new structures, but his invention spread throughout the world in the form of lighthouses, TV towers, and load-bearing structures for buildings and bridges.[1] Structures built following Shukhov's ideas include a tower in the port of Kobe (Japan, 1963), the 30 St Mary Axe ("the Gherkin") skyscraper in London designed by Norman Foster (2004), and the Khan Shatyr entertainment center in Astana (2010).[2]

Sources

  1. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Hyperboloids of Engineer Shukhov (archive)
  2. polibino.ru — The Shukhov Tower (archive)
  3. shuhovfond.org — Hyperboloid Structures — International Shukhov Foundation — International Shukhov FoundationHyperboloid… (archive)