Zaha Hadid Architects unveils design for new planned 'smart city' near Moscow

Moscow's population has been exploding in recent decades—growing by more than 30% to currently 12.4 million in the past 20 years—and space is starting to get tight. To accommodate future growth and welcome new residents without further clogging the city center, officials are planning the new Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye neighborhood with 4 million square meters of new buildings on a 460-hectare plot, only a few miles west of Moscow. 

An invited architectural competition asked three consortiums to submit proposals that include new homes for 66,500 residents paired with state-of-the-art 'smart city' infrastructure, educational and medical facilities, shopping and entertainment districts as well as new civic and cultural institutions. 

The invited consortiums are Zaha Hadid Architects (UK) in collaboration with TPO Pride Architects (Russia); Nikken Sekkei (Japan) with UNK Project (Russia); and Archea Associati (Italy) with ABD Architects (Russia).

Read on to learn more about the ZHA/TPO Pride proposal.

"Zaha Hadid Architects’ proposal for Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye is a phased development designed to enhance residents’ interactions with each other, with nature and with new technologies," explains the project description. "Founded on research and studies that conclude people’s well-being and happiness increases from greater interaction with their local community, the design creates a diverse ecology of spaces for living, working, education or leisure that encourage engagement and communication."

"Smart technologies are embedded within the urban fabric of Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye. Its design also enables residents and visitors to unwind with their families, friends and the natural world that permeates through the heart of the city; creating an urban environment of ecological technology that seamlessly integrates natural and human-made systems."

Zaha Hadid Architects has been busy with a number of major new projects in Russia in recent months, including the new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall in Yekaterinburg, the Sberbank Technopark in Moscow, and the Admiral Serebryakov Embankment master plan in Novorossiysk.