The 103,000-square-meter development of Forum City 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 centre.

The nine-building complex, developed by the Forum Group, will act as its own metropolitan microcosm inside the larger city of Yekaterinburg by combining residential, leisure facilities, and retail inside an archetypal city block.

The development will allow space for 586 modest to luxury apartment buildings housed in towers that range from 8 to 30 floors. The irregular and oblong shaped towers have been designed to encompass panoramic views of the city. 

The site was previously home to an open-air market, and in a nod to the area’s history, the modern incarnation of the market will be connected to a separate retail building through a glass-covered street. With booths and cafes, the market will represent the commercial past and present of Yekaterinburg. 

The project also incorporates a series of public spaces in the form of the main square that features trees, benches, and additional pockets of green space found throughout rest of the complex. By experimenting with mediating openness and privacy in the development, LEVS Architecten introduces a dialogue unusual in Russian architecture. 

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.

The construction of Forum City is slated to begin in September 2017.

Images courtesy of LEVS Architecten.