The Architectural Department of Moscow City Government (MosComArhitectura) has announced the shortlisted teams competing to design the strategy that will be used to double the size of Moscow. With an uneven distribution of working places throughout the Russian Federation capital, millions of residents are forced to commute each day to the over-populated, historic city center, thus causing serious transportation, ecological and social problems within the region.
The Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept will see the city annex 150,316 hectares to its south-west in order to overcome its chronic space problems. OMA, Diller Scofidio & Renfro and McAdam Architects, lead by the well-known Russian architects Andrey Chernihov and Alexei Ginsburg, are a few names that appear among the ten shortlisted teams. Continue reading for more competition details and the entire shortlist.
McAdam Architects practice director, Tanya Kalinina said: “This is a completely unusual task. The strategy for a major capital city of over ten million is to be completely re-thought and enlarged to twice the size.”
Nearly 35% of the cities working places are concentrated within the densely built city center. The concept aims to provide a “wave-type” redistribution that will relieve the current strain of the historical centers by reorganizing and redeveloping the middle and periphery circular city zones. These zones are currently occupied by high-density housing with insufficient working spaces, transportation and social infrastructure; therefore the development of social infrastructure and high-speed transportation infrastructure will also play a major part in the plan for the Moscow agglomeration.
Additionally, the middle planning belt of the south-western sector will offer a place for local complexes of scientific, educational, medical objects and innovative production objects along with preservation of the valuable natural landscapes and recreation. The valuable natural landscape of the periphery planning belt will also be preserved with establishment of three to four national parks.
The Complete Shortlist
1. Ostozhenka Architets (Russia) Ateliers Lion Associes (France) SGP (France) Paris-Saclay (France) Epadesa (France)
2. International Academy of Architecture (Prof Andrey Chernihov) Juul-Frost Architects (Denmark) Diller Scofidio & Renfro (USA) McAdam Architects (UK) Ginzburg Architects (Russia) Tower 151 Architects (Croatia)
3. Moscow Architectural Institute Devereux Architects (Ireland)
4. Central Research and Project Institute of Urbanism / Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Science (Russia) Nikken Sekkei (Japan) RTKL (UK) Knight Frank
5. Antoine Grumbach et Associes SA (France) Wilmotte & Associes SA (France) Egis International (France) SGP, EPPS, EPADESA, CFREE – group of experts (France) High School of Economics (Russia)
6. L’AUC (France) Bureau BAS Smets (Belgium) Sestra (France) Franc Boutte Consultant (France)
7. OMA (The Netherlands) Strelka Institute (Russia) Project Meganom (Russia) Siemens AG (Germany) McKinsey & Company (USA)
8. Ricardo Bofill (Spain) Barcelona Regional Agency for Urban Development (Spain)
9. Studio Associato Secchi-Vgano (Italy)
10. Urban Design Associates (USA) Beasley & Associates (Canada) Gillespes LLP (Scotland) John Thompson & Partners (UK) Nelson / Nigaard (USA) Buro Happold (Scotland)
Each shortlisted team will be paid €250,000 to further develop their concepts over the course of six months. City authorities may select a combination of winners to work on different phases of the project.
