KCAP Architects&Planners together with NEXT Architects from Amsterdam present their entry for the A101 Urban Block Competition in Moscow. The A101 urban development called for a Block City Masterplan to house 320,000 inhabitants with 13 million m2 of residential space. KCAP/NEXT’s proposal – “100% Block City” – brings together the dimensions of individual elements of city life to enliven the monotonous block houses of the late socialist housing style while harmonizing the entirety into a single whole.
More about this project after the break.
The strategy for developing “100% Block City” was to bring together and combine the best qualities of various urban typologies – the standard perimeter block, the housing slab and towers. It gives privilege to the pedestrian, promotes urban density and offers best orientation, attractive views and proximity to the green.
The character of the site is a strong influence for the “100$ Block City” development. The site-specific qualities are embraced and combined with a superimposed generic grid. The concept envisions the connection of landscape and city, where a series of blocks within the grid may either be built or green, thereby allowing for the creation of green rooms that become integral parts of the city as a grid. This also contributes to the larger urban structure which connects the competition area with its surrounding concept, as described by Ruurd Gietema, urban planner and partner of KCAP.
‘The masterplan demonstrates a flexible approach that is able to react to the demographic and economic developments. The infrastructural system and the equilibrium between urban and green blocks guaranty that the city is ‘complete’ at every stage of its development,’ says Marijn Schenk, architect and partner of NEXT architects. This strategy establishes a malleability for the masterplan and a level of flexibility for future developments to adapt to the requirements of the competition today and the city of the future.
