Picking a date for the Gazprom

Gazprom, a giant Russian natural gas company, has apparently invited a number of big name architects to come up with ideas for a new complex in St. Petersburg called Gazprom City. Despite the fact that they're part of the Russian government and the biggest company in the country and they don't really have to let anyone know anything about what they're doing, they've gamely decided to post the finalists of the design competition on their website and display the conceptual models at an art museum.

The three above are pretty amazing. I think the middle one is Liebeskind, but I'm not entirely sure. While I don't think it's my favorite (the one that looks like a flame on the left is awfully pretty), there's something about it that really captivates me. How strange would it be to work there? When you're in a regular office building, it's easy to imagine how to get to some other office, but here, you'd really have to know what you were doing. I tend to be good with directions and like the feeling of getting lost or exploring, and I prefer the crazy streets in parts of London to the straigtforward grid of midtown Manhattan, so I like the idea of a building that you could get lost in. And I would love to stand underneath it and look up.

But take a look at this one:

I don't know exactly what is going on here, but it seems like there are five buildings that are connected by some kind of open frame structure, with three levels of park terrace stretching between them. That's so sci-fi I'm getting goosebumps. There's something about the whole thing that puts me off, but I love the concept of making streets and parks in the sky. I'm sure it's a very green building, as well.