Moscow

As a major city, one of the few of its kind in the green zone of 2100, Moscow is a study in how to vastly increase density in an already existing urban context. Our strategy creates twisting megastructures, arrayed in the airspace over some of the city’s eight-lane boulevards, anchored by towers at the street intersections. One tower is located near the Arbatskaya Station entrance, with the bulk of its megastructure suspended over Novy Arbat Avenue, the city’s most populous zone between the first and third highway rings.

Similar interventions have been built elsewhere in the city above some of the other major roads connecting the rings. In 2015, Novy Arbat itself connects Red Square to the riverfront, a place with a number of important addresses on it including Russian government buildings and the U.S. and U.K. embassies. The twisting elevated structure has commercial uses and public space at grade, including plazas on either side of the boulevard. A bikeway travels up a gentle slope from the ground into one of the raised serpentine structures’ openings. Farther up, there is additional transportation in the form of hyperloop and regular metrail, flanked by more public and commercial space. Mass has been added to the city, vertically above existing buildings, spanning between buildings, and over open space.

The elevated megastructure is designed to optimize sunlight shining onto dwellings and green spaces while minimizing the amount of shadow cast onto existing buildings. The shape of the structure also employs the Venturi Effect in order to accelerate wind velocity for energy capture. Horizontal elevators connect different areas of the superstructure, which is also punctured by large-scale elevated parks where recreation and farming are combined. Multiple points of entry are arrayed along the boulevard and on the elevated transport level above, giving access to different areas within the mega-building and seamlessly connecting older parts of the city with the new. A visitor can to take a walk along one of the boulevards under the serpentine structures, finding a number of dynamic public spaces and commercial zones.

People on bicycles swiftly disappear onto ramps leading up to the elevated transit level, where they and the visitor can enjoy views over the city. Fleets of superbuses move passengers in specially designated lanes while light trains and the hyperloop system serve longer-distance travel. The level of activity is heightened by the increased density. Also visible on the faces of the megastructures are solar and integrated-windmill technologies for renewable energy production.

At the perimeter of the megastructure, a series of inclined elevators transport people between homes, workplaces, shops, and elevated public spaces within. Farms and gardens on upper levels provide enclosed green space for people living in the dense towers that straddle the intersections, amenities which are sheltered from the harsh Moscow winters. The megastructure’s design uses the density of present day Manila as a guideline, but far exceeds it, with 53,236 people per square kilometer.

One of the big challenges in the future will be how to add increased density to already densely inhabited cities. Moscow 2100 shows one way a city can greatly increase its population by densifying vertically while creating public space on the ground and in the air.