LEVS Architecten Brings New Type of Mixed-Used Development to Russia

In LEVS Architecten’s newest development Forum City, the firm reinterprets Russian urban life in the center of its fourth-largest city, Yekaterinburg. The nine-building complex, developed by the Forum Group, curates its own metropolitan microcosm inside the larger urban area by combining residential, leisure facilities, and retail inside an archetypal city block.

The 103,000 square meter multi-use development aims to attract visitors and maintain a healthy quality of life for its residents by offering a market hall, cafes, a kindergarten, offices, a gym, and a medical center. It will also feature 586 modest to luxury apartment buildings housed in towers that range from eight to 30 floors. The towers are irregular and oblong in shape to offer panoramic views of the city and take advantage of sunlight.

A nod to the site’s previously existing historical open market, Forum City plans to include a modern market hall that is connected to a current retail building through a glass-covered street. With booths and cafes, the market will represent the commercial past and present of Yekaterinburg.

By encompassing a city block, the scheme upholds the urban grid structure historic to Yekaterinburg, but also varies enough to speak to its rule-breaking neighbors. With retail offerings on the first floor, the development appears solid on its edge. The project reveals its porosity through its public spaces such as the main square that feature trees and benches and additional pockets of green space found throughout the complex. By experimenting with mediating openness and privacy in the development, LEVS Architecten introduces a dialogue unusual in Russian architecture.

Architecture Concept. Image Courtesy of LEVS Architecten

The landscaping of the project, designed by S&P Architektura Krajobrazu, reflects the semi-private and semi-public nature of the project using terrain height to signify access. Connected to the market hall, the terraces of the lower part of the courtyard are semi-public. The private upper part of the courtyard offers residents space for activities, work, and playgrounds.