Architects Map Out New Smart City for Moscow

A British-Iraqi team of architects are currently mapping out a smart city just outside the Russian capital of Moscow.

Located just west of the capital, the district will be named Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye, and will have a people-centric focus and span 460 hectares.

Architecture outsourcing:

Zaha Hadid Architects, the famous Architecture service provider under Zaha Hadid, the British-Iraqi Architect who has received prestigious prizes for her outstanding work, including the Pritzker Architecture prize and the Stirling prize, has been selected as one of the companies that are tasked with building the smart city, right next to the Russian capital.

Project director of Zaha Hadid Architects, Chistos Passas, says “working with specialist teams in Russia and Europe, we developed a people-centric design for a smart interconnected city that brings people together not only through innovative technology but also through organizing the public realm; building a community that integrates the natural aspects of the site with principles of openness and inclusivity in high quality architecture suited for the 21st century.”

Project plans:

Set to become a global benchmark for smart, sustainable cities, the Russian city is planned to house 66,500 residents as well as services provided to them – medical clinics, transport facility, shopping areas and more. The city to be developed is also planned to 800,000 square meters of dedicated ‘office space for financial, audit and legal sectors of Moscow.

The future city will accommodate the Russian capital’s steadily growing economy and demands without a substantial increase in congestion. 4 million square metres of new buildings are planned to be developed in the area. One third of the said area is to be dedicated just for parklands and forest bordering the Moscow river with a central lake.

Moreover, a metro line is set to incubated in the neighborhood in 2020 that ‘will provide transport within the city as it connects Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye with Shelepikha interchange station.

“Moscow has made a rapid smart city journey from 2011 and we are keen on keeping up with the pace,” the strategy and innovations advisor to the chief information officer of Moscow, Andrey Belozerov went on to say, “No matter whether it is Moscow, Singapore or Barcelona – every city has the same task to make their residents’ lives enjoyable, safe and comfortable … We are happy to contribute to this research as it is important to develop universal metrics to access city performances all around the world.”