Archea Associati was the winner of the international competition by invitation for the masterplan of the Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye district, the area west of Moscow with an area of ​​more than 4 million square meters in the territory of 463 hectares along the Moskva River.
The project includes a multifunctional area, with various functions from residential to offices, where the square takes on the task of connecting the multiple actions that are included in the planning. The Archea studio focused on the idea of ​​public space as a relationship between activity and sociality; the goal was to give the city a place to be discovered and interpreted as a reference not only geographic but also a fulcrum for the functions contained therein. Interesting is the planimetric design where the curved lines in the center of the square interface with the angular and elegant features of the buildings. The public area that extends over the lake of 30 hectares is designed for all seasons, in order to accommodate activities to climate needs. The buildings, each with a different height from the other so as to produce a captivating skyline, appear like stones set within the square; the base is a ribbon that dialogues with the elements present in order to welcome the viewer on a boulevard with open-air theaters, commercial areas and other activities designed at different heights. The project is structured as a real green lung, an area that can be recognized as a changing and dynamic space for everyone with a podium that envelops and conveys the actions in a place designed for the sociality of the present and the future. «The projects selected on the basis of detailed discussion stand out for their innovative and unique architectural and planning solutions. This competition once again demonstrates the importance of organizing such events to create complex and modern projects for the development of the city, “said the chief architect of the city of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, member of the jury. Moscow deputy mayor in the Moscow government for urban planning and construction, co-chairman of the jury, Marat Khusnullin stressed how in recent years Moscow has changed the culture of decision-making in the field of architecture and construction. “The practice of promoting architectural competitions has become an essential element of urban planning policy, which automatically increases competition in the professional environment, helps architects to develop unique projects and often also to propose fundamentally new ideas in urban planning,” he said. .Marat Khusnullin underlined that “thanks to the competition, the city has received architectural projects of high quality and so interesting that they have no equal in Europe or America, and which, above all, fit into the fabric of the city to give a new face to the city”. According to him, these projects “will allow the metropolis to integrate more actively in the international assessment of the quality of urban planning and architectural activities”.
Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye JSC director general, jury member Andrei Likhachev, said: «The works of the contest participants are very different, also in terms of feasibility. It is very important that all the works are characterized by professional skills and a unique approach to solve the problem of creating a comfortable urban environment ». Marco Casamonti & Partners / Archea Associati must develop a project for 814 thousand square meters of surface which includes: the square in front of the lake, the characterizing element of the new district, will not be a paved square but a large wood / forest, around which there will be a park with the river designed by Land; office buildings, including a bank headquarters; some residential buildings; complementary services, including but not limited to film studios and schools.

THE PROJECT

Architecture and design made by Italians are back in the Russian Federation

St. Petersburg was designed by the Italians: many of the most beautiful buildings in the city, founded by Peter the Great in the early 1700s, were built by architects such as Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Antonio Rinaldi, Vincenzo Brenna and Giacomo Quarenghi. The latest Italian work is by the Neapolitan Carlo Rossi who designed the Winter Palace Square.
Italian architects on the urban scene of the main Russian cities, a tradition that today is renewed, after centuries, also thanks to the maxi-competition promoted by the largest Russian bank for a project for a new settlement that will be built 25 minutes from the center of Moscow, which involves, among others, two Italian firms, Marco Casamonti & Partners / Archea Associati, for the so-called Lake Park City, and LAND for the landscape system of the new smart city.
Lake Park City is a newly founded city, which will rise in a free area of ​​400 hectares, the Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye: it is the largest development in an area outside the city of Moscow, where it is planned to give shape to a new concept of living, surrounded by nature, with a river that borders the perimeter and a lake and a forest at the center of the urban settlement.
«Nature will be a fundamental component of this project, Moscow is a city built with large avenues – says Marco Casamonti – and here for the first time, in the Lake Park City, we set up a project trying to restore the maximum contamination between park and city. A system of routes will cross the dense city, on a human scale, in close contact with the landscape, where there is also a metro stop that will connect the city center in less than half an hour “.
Public transport and electric cars will be encouraged, with a network of infrastructures that will delimit the area and offer a widespread service, permeating the urban fabric.
The masterplan includes, in addition to the large central park, an open-air theater, a Japanese garden, a pier on the water, a spa area. A sort of ‘high line’ will run along the entire perimeter of the lake and will be an elevated path designed to encourage gentle mobility.
Homes, offices, hotels, public buildings, shops in a mix that excludes large shopping centers and favors the dissemination of services and retail spaces on the ground floors of the buildings, in order to animate the settlement system and give vitality to the new City.
Lake Park City is connected to the city, but surrounded by greenery, it is a dense city on a human scale. “Even capitalizing on the post-pandemic reflections, this settlement – says Marco Casamonti – looks to the future by proposing an urban context that is not claustrophobic and enriched by the typical services of the city, which allow you to have everything you need at short distances, not only shops but also schools , kindergartens and gyms ».
Circular economy, urban ecology, quality of design, all this also thanks to specific solutions designed to combat climate change and to raise awareness in the community with behaviors that help take care of the natural and built environment. It solutions will be integrated, for example, with services, to offer, for example, an efficient system of waste collection and recycling of materials and products.