This was a necessary condition for a project that lacks pedestrian connectivity with the existing urban fabric.

This approach was also supported by the relatively large site area and the developer’s decision to place a production facility — the Molniya Watch Factory (currently located in the center of Chelyabinsk) — within the project’s territory, which will create around 300 jobs.

This was a necessary condition — but equally important was that the character of the development should evoke the feeling of a city, look like a city, and be a place where people want to live and spend time.

To achieve this, the project had to include traditional urban spaces: streets, squares, boulevards, parks, and the like. The main idea was the conscious design and integration of these urban spaces into the development, formed on the basis of the best examples of world urban planning practice throughout history.

Sources of inspiration

In shaping the image of the new city, we drew inspiration from the best examples of urban spaces — the places where we love to be and to which we want to return.

The streets have physical boundaries in the form of building façades along at least 70% of their length. Thanks to this, when residents step out of any courtyard, they immediately find themselves in a space that is clearly perceived as "urban."

The second important attribute of a street is the presence of trees, planted in rows on both sides of the street.

The difference between a platform and a square lies in the presence or absence of vertical boundaries in the form of building façades. In the presented project, we bring back this traditional and highly expressive element of the city.

The main square has optimal dimensions for a project of this scale. Special attention has been given to its physical vertical boundaries.

Through landscaping and small architectural forms, the square’s space is visually divided into sections.

This approach helps, on one hand, to avoid an excessively open area and, on the other, to accommodate a large number of people — for example, during holidays and public events.

In the center of the square, there is a "dry" fountain, which is replaced by a Christmas tree in winter.

These spaces are formed by public buildings: a café, a restaurant, shops, and a residential building with commercial premises on the ground floor (along one of the street edges).

Essentially, it is a small shopping center that matches the project’s scale — but instead of being confined within a standard "box," it consists of several individual buildings.

This approach, in addition to fulfilling standard functional requirements, allows the creation of very cozy and expressive urban spaces in the spirit of an old pedestrian city.

Special attention is given to shaping spaces with complex geometry: the pedestrian streets gently curve, right angles are minimized, and façade designs change every 6−10 meters, adding a sense of "old town magic" to the place.

The main function of greenery in the city is to bring diversity to the urban landscape.

Within a very small area, two traditional urban elements have been created: a boulevard and a square. The two views shown below were captured with the camera shifted by only seven meters, yet they convey completely different atmospheres — an urban environment (view 1) and a natural oasis (view 2).

The small size of the square (about 0.3 hectares) makes it possible to achieve high-quality landscaping without creating a significant financial burden on the overall project.

Main Playground. The central children’s playground is located beyond the boulevard and the green zone.

Its main function is to "draw" children out of the courtyards. As a result, children from the entire project area will gather in one place, where they can always find like-minded friends or peers to play with.

Since the playground’s budget is collected from the entire project, it can be built to the highest quality standards — both in terms of play equipment and in the quality of surfaces and landscaping.

A very important aspect is often overlooked: while focusing on what the infrastructure (that is, the content) of a modern city should be, we tend to miss the question — what should be the structure itself, the physical form of the city?

To find an answer to this question, we looked at the issue from the perspective of an ordinary person. Where does a person feel comfortable? In what places does one enjoy spending time? Where does one want to linger? When does someone choose a longer route instead of “cutting through the back alleys”? Where do people prefer to take evening walks?

As a rule, such places are found in the historical centers of cities and include traditional urban spaces: streets, squares (not open lots!), boulevards, and small parks. These spaces can differ greatly in their characteristics, and the key parameter of a pleasant walk is the variety of sensations.

It is precisely this principle that we used in the project. Without copying specific examples, we applied the principles on which the best urban spaces are built and incorporated into the project what we consider the most important quality — the diversity of urban spaces.

In a sense, this is the programming of sensations experienced while moving through the city: the sidewalk along a street with car traffic transitions into a spacious yet cozy main square; then the space narrows along a pedestrian street, only to open up again on the boulevard. A few steps to the side bring you into the natural surroundings of an urban park, from which you can once again return to the city sidewalk — or continue straight into the forest bordering the project.

All of this transforms ordinary daily movements through the city — whether going to the store or to work — into a pleasant walk full of interesting impressions and sensations. As a result, it creates an overall feeling that you are in a beautiful, comfortable, and modern city!