Steven Holl to Build in Moscow

Steven Holl Architects bested Fuksas Architecture, Zaha Hadid Architects, and others with a proposal for a new building typology: "Parachute Hybrids." Born from the site's former use as a paratrooper airfield, the winning scheme "combines residential bar and slab structures with supplemental programming suspended in sections above, like parachutes frozen in the sky," per a statement from Holl's office.

Earlier this century, city officials proposed turning the old airfield into a 200,000-square-meter urban center for housing, commerce, offices, entertainment and sports. In Holl's scheme, the buildings, organized to shape public space with maximum sunlight exposure, wrap around to create a large public garden and playground spaces. Furthermore, an eco corridor runs through the site to connect to the Moscow River. 

The most distictive elements in the winning design are the circular openings that express the social spaces embedded within the towers. These areas respond to developer Vi Holdings' mandate to provide "a comfortable living environment for the project, incorporating rich infrastructure and education spaces into the programming." In addition to health spas, pools, cafes, and lounges in the towers, the development will include a new kindergarten and an elementary school in stand-alone buildings.

Although no target completion date was indicated, the first phase of drawings are to be completed in March 2018.