ZIL MASTERPLAN

The new district project supports the idea of creating a 'Green River' on the city map — a chain of natural spaces stretching continuously from the North to the South of Moscow. 

A framework of public spaces became the city planning foundation for the new territory. The framework’s elements include parks, boulevards, streets and squares, city roads, river transport, pedestrian and cycle paths, cultural and education institutions. The functional zoning concept revives the 1930s concept: the creation of a green 'city within a city' on the ZIL plant territory, initially developed by Vesnins brothers.

ZIL Peninsula masterplan stipulates the division of the site into three parts — the central boulevard zone, the residential zone by the river and the main park.

LOCATION: Moscow

CLIENT: LSR Group

STATUS: under construction

PROGRAM: masterplan, landscape, residential and mixed use

AREA site — 271,25 ha

Partners in charge: Y. Grigoryan, I. Kulehsov

Senior architect: A. Koptelova

Project manager: A. Koptelova

Architects: A. Belinskaya, G. Daynov, S. Gelain, A. Egarmina, S. Rastorguev, I. Shmeleva

The Moscow Automotive Society
(AMO) plant was founded in 1916. The site for its construction was chosen in the Danilovsky district of Moscow, on a 300-hectare plot. In 1934, the well-known constructivist architects, the Vesnin brothers, were invited to participate in the recon-struction of the plant. They became the authors of the general plan for the territory and got several patents: in particular, in relation to the construc-tion of the huge spans of the workshop roofs. In accordance with the Vesnins’ project, the territory of the plant be-came a “city within a city”. The layout was subordinated to the plant’s main arterial road, the boulevard, and the green streets perpendicular to it. A special architectural studio, “Prom-stroyproekt”, was subsequently created to expand the territory, which included well-known Russian architects such as Konstantin Melnikov and Ivan Zhol-tovsky, as well as international experts and invited architects and engineers from the Albert Kahn company. In 1956, the plant received the historical name “AMO ZIL” in honor of its director, Ivan Likhachev, who implemented the manufacture of cars on an assembly line for the first time in the USSR.

Within the development of the masterplan of the territory of the former industrial zone of the ZIL plant a design code was developed for future investors and architects, which includes rules regarding the height of buildings, road profiles, noise control, and the location of entrances to buildings. The regulations for building facades and insolation gaps were also determined. The design code fixed the system of small squares and the functional street-level zoning scheme for the development on the plan of the district.

The “open quarter rule” introduced by the design code entails the opening of all residential quarters to the river and planting of greenery, as well as the visual unification of the green spaces of pedestrian streets and courtyards. The function and type of building were determined individually for each site for which design was performed. Each block was assigned to various architects under control of design code parameters and coordination.

The architects of the buildings and blocks on the territory of the former industrial zone of the ZIL plant are: Bureau Alexander Brodsky, Sergey Skura-tov Architects, Tsimailo Lyashenko & Partners, Speech, Neutelings Riedijk, Utkin Studio, DNA Architectural Group, Alexey Kozyr architectural studio, Anton Barklyansky, Sergey Kiselev and Partners, Breath Architects, DROM, Svesmi, Mossine Partners, Wowhaus, buromoscow, MLA+, Nowadays, Kleinewelt Architekten, Wall, Fas(t), Kontora and others. So far eight residential buildings have been built in the northern part of the former ZIL industrial zone. They are planned to be occupied by the end of 2019. Full commissioning of the entire territory of the ZIL-North residential area is planned for 2026.

BIG MOSCOW 
Compaction and consolidation instead of sprawl 
Ninety percent of the city within its 1962 boundaries (the Moscow Ring Road) has been built over the past fifty years. The monument to Soviet urban planning suddenly found itself confronted with a new reality: and that is the root of the city’s numerous problems. Concepts for creating a comfortable urban environment on the sites of former industrial areas and micro-districts need to be explored. 
This means addressing the entire range of problems that have accumulated, interacting with the urban community and creating new city-planning models. 
Expansion beyond the city boundaries would only aggravate the ecological and transport situation, resulting in a loss of time and shifting attention away from the periphery. 

TRANSPORT  
Improving connectivity and accessibility
The territory of ZIL has great potential for solving the city’s transport problems. The peninsula could become a hub for all modes of transportation, including inland water transport. Pedestrians and public transport are given priority in the development of the internal transport network. A network of safe pedestrian walkways should link children’s institutions and recreational areas.

ECOLOGY    
The Park Ring and the Green River: new urban ecological systems 
The project envisages the territory being incorporated into three new ecosystems of the city, making the former industrial area suitable for life. The main steps towards a green ZIL are: cleaning the Moskva River, airing the old riverbed, and developing a concept of energy conservation and ecological self-sufficiency.

QUALITY OF LIFE
Creating a balanced environment
The project shall mainly focus on harmoniously combining multiple functions. ZIL features all the elements of the urban environment of varying scale and significance: production, innovation, housing, and public facilities and spaces. Diversity and richness, the density of service and safety, education and culture, health and sports: these are the indicators of the city’s performance as compared to global cities worldwide.

PUBLIC SPHERE 
Priority of public interests in ZIL’s program
The ZIL site provides a unique opportunity of creating a new center of public life on the peninsula at a time when the city is experiencing an overall decline in the public sphere.
A large central park, a promenade along the river, a new pedestrian bridge across the Moskva River, a restored boulevard, and over 20 new small gardens and squares will make the urban environment especially attractive.
Engaging one or several educational institutions and a number of cultural and exhibition initiatives in the project is essential to the creation of the public center.

CENTER OF GRAVITY
An educational test site and urban laboratory
In the process of transforming ZIL into a new city center, the members of the urban community must be given the freedom to experiment with it. Involving young people in the creation of their own future should help find new models for cooperation with the city authorities. Participation of educational institutions in the transformations from the outset is to become a significant part of the design process.

DECENTRALIZATION
A new city center at the confluence of two rivers
Lying on the opposite side of the Kremlin from Moscow City, the new cultural and educational center can offer tough competition to the business one and indicate alternative ways of creating public centers of gravity. Opening the boulevard and introducing cultural initiatives to part of the premises of the plant will help achieve rapid results and create a place of interest.
To this end, in the first stages, the city and developers must invest in infrastructure and promenade landscaping, not allowing real-estate development to take priority over the public aspect of the project.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY
An experiment in urban culture
The multicultural environment of a megacity attracts tourists and citizens alike. The structure of the project should establish maximum diversity. Affordable apartments and rent will attract people of different interests, cultures and traditions to the area. Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Japanese, Tajik, Chinese, Armenian, Vietnamese, Indian, Georgian, and Russian shops, fairs, markets, restaurants and cafés are envisaged within a single curatorial concept.

SELF-GOVERNMENT
A new unit of municipal government 
Large municipal management entities—administrative councils and districts—are created artificially and do not take into account the natural boundaries of the city. The shape and size of the peninsula are ideal for creating a new type of self-government unit in Moscow. The building of the local community center should become one of the key iconic buildings of the complex.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY 
A city for the creative class
Moscow residents are now enjoying new communication opportunities and are more willing to spend time in the city space. The new class seeks new opportunities in the field of creative work and new standards of the urban environment.
Maximum residential use in the territory near the center and the creation of jobs in the periphery in the near future will to a certain extent help solve the problem of pendulum commuting on the agglomeration level.
ZIL has a unique opportunity of combining innovative production, affordable housing, and culture and education in the same area.

BALANCE OF FUNCTIONS
ZIL as a good neighbour 
Constructing a new hospital and filling ZIL’s territory with social and cultural amenities should compensate for service shortcomings in the neighbouring areas. Instead of a gated territory, the urban environment will see an upturn in the public and service sectors.

PHOTOS OF IMPLMENTATION