Russia’s federal government announced earlier this year that it would double the territory of its capital city, Moscow, with aim of enabling the city to grow into a competitive 21st century world capital. Government officials launched an international competition for urban designers to plan the most efficient use of this new territory in the development of the city. The competition’s winning bid came from Capital Cities Planning Group (CCPG), a conglomerate comprised of London-based group of landscape architects Gillespies, Edinburgh-based urban designers John Thompson & Partners and international engineering consultants Buro Happold. Their winning designs for the future of Moscow will see the group the opportunity to design and plan the new Federal District.
Capital Cities Planning Group’s proposal, called “City in the Forest,” beat out ten other international proposals. The plan includes a proposal to house 1.7 million people and create 800,000 jobs in the government, education and business sectors. As the name of the project, “City in the Forest”, would imply, the group plan to remake the notoriously bleak landscape of Soviet-era concrete buildings for which Moscow is infamous. In a press release, John Thompson, chair of John Thompson & Partners, said: “We are delighted that our team has won the competition for the design of the new Federal District, bringing together international best practice to create a model for the further expansion of Moscow through the creation of a properly serviced, zero-carbon, transit orientated urban hierarchy set within a forest and lakeside landscape.”
The proposal for expansion, shown above, envisions growth out from the south-west corner of the city, with 155 square kilometers earmarked for a new integrated district connected to the city’s core by a mass transit-orientated movement system. The new district will be configured around a series of lakes, enhancing the value of home developments in the area. The international jury also awarded Parisian architectural firm Antoine Grumbach & Jean-Michel Wilmotte responsibility for the building-by-building architectural realization of the Capital Cities Planning Group’s overall plans.
