Leader of the contest for the concept design of Serp & Molot is MVRDV

The finalists rating of the international competition for the development concept of the Serp & Molot factory territory has been announced: the renowned Dutch bureau MVRDV was at the top of the list of five finalists, ahead of Ateliers Lion Associés, LDA Design and de Architekten Cie. Project Meganom, the only Russian team, took fourth place.

The rating of the finalists is a recommendation — within a month the competition’s customer, the company Don Stroy Invest, will choose the definitive winner.

The international competition arranged by the Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning of Moscow, according to the chief architect Sergey Kuznetsov, turned out to be one of the most impressive lately, distinguished by strong participants and high professionalism of the international jury, which included world-renowned architects.

As noted by the General Director of Don Stroy Invest, Alena Deryabina, the degree to which the contest projects were worked out was so thorough that any of them could be implemented. “At the same time they did not have standard solutions, each project was unique,” added the speaker.

Moreover, in the projects of all five finalists, as Sergey Kuznetsov pointed out, the principles of Moscow’s new urban planning policies were reflected — an approach of yard and street zoning of spaces, a public ground floor, capillary permeability of the territory, and redevelopment on the principle of quarters.

In the project of MVRDV, who has extensive experience with the renovation of industrial zones, these principles have been connected with careful attention to the industrial past of the area and are elegantly integrated into the new redevelopment according to Sergey Kuznetsov. The architects have used the existing planning structure of the factory buildings, and even fragments of abandoned railway lines, turning them into interesting urban objects.

Next in the ranking was as follows: 2nd place — Ateliers Lion Associés, 3rd place — LDA Design, 4th place — Project Meganom, 5th place — de Architekten Cie.

The chief architect would have put the Russian bureau Project Meganom in second place, but by a vote of the jury, it fell lower in the ranking. This project reflected the concept developed by Yuri Grigoryan of the Green River, linking the north-east and south-west green wedges of the city by a chain of park spaces. Kuznetsov said that by participating in international competitions the level of Russian projects continues to grow, and today against the backdrop of world leaders in architecture, they look very dignified.

According to Alena Deryabina, the minimum amount of investment in the project is 140 billion rubles, and its implementation can take anywhere from 5 to 10 years.