zaha hadid architects receives planning permission to build vast technopark in moscow

zaha hadid architects’ competition proposal to build the technopark for russian bank sberbank, which beat out submissions by firms such as foster+partners and fuksas, has now received planning permission. the vast facility will be located at the skolkovo innovation center — russia’s equivalent to silicon valley – in moscow, and will be home to the laboratories and campuses of russia’s growing IT, biomedical, energy, nuclear and space innovations. the proposal has received the ‘state expertise’ certification from the city’s planning authority for its innovative design, which includes large communal spaces, atria and cantilevered facades. works have now begun on the sberbank technopark site, with shortlisted contractors soon to be invited to oversee the project’s construction.

all images courtesy of zaha hadid architects | main image by anima

the total area at 262,000 square meters will become the russian bank’s headquarters for developing IT and accommodate around 10,000-12,000 people working in the departments of information technology and marketing. ‘the necessity to innovate and collaborate is fundamental to sberbank’s operations.  our research into interconnected, multi-function environments has driven the sberbank technopark design. it responds to the bank’s requirements for enhanced communication, interaction and diversification. the design reconfigures working relationships and adopts a holistic approach to creating an engaging environment that offers a diversified range of facilities both internally and externally,’ comments christos passas, project director at ZHA. 

technopark’s design will encourage teams to collaborate and pilot innovations

the large-scale development has been given the go-ahead with construction to begin in 18 months time and estimated to take two years to complete. ‘the incredible belief in the power of invention attracted zaha hadid to the russian avant-garde. she realized how architecture can enrich creativity; how space itself can enhance dynamism, complexity, coherence and continuity. these principles are embedded within the sberbank technopark design,’ continues passas.

the 262,000 sqm facility will become the bank’s hub for IT innovations, accommodating 17,000 people

image by VA

the innovative design includes large communal spaces, atria and cantilevered facades
image by VA

sberbank is the market leader of the russian banking and economic circulatory system

project info:

architects: zaha hadid architects (ZHA)
design: zaha hadid, patrik schumacher and christos passas
ZHA design director: christos passas
ZHA competition team —
ZHA project architects: eider fernandez and veronika ilinskaya
ZHA lead designers: chrysi fradellou, spyridon kaprinis, bruno pereira, melhem sfeir
ZHA design team: ben kikkawa, faten el meri, sergey krupin, emily rohrer, nicos yiatros, reza esmaeeli
ZHA workspace analysis: uli blum
ZHA schematic and design development team —
ZHA project directors: christos passas, manuela gatto
ZHA project associates: garin o’ aivazian, kutbuddin nadiadi, lydia kim, eider fernandez-eibar, dimtiris kolonis
ZHA lead designers: kwanphil cho, seungho yeo, melhem sfeir
ZHA facade design leads: mei ling lin, massimo napoleoni, duo chen
ZHA planning leads: mu ren, sattor jabbor, leonid krykhtin, ben kikkawa, bechara malkoun, nicholette chan, alicia hidalgo, christina christodoulidou, maria touloupou, maria- eleni bali, nessma al ghoussein
ZHA scripting design: jose pareja-gomez, melhem sfeir, duo chen
ZHA BIM specialists: eckart schwerdtfeger, valeria perco, maria avrami, maria chaparro, mauro sabiu
ZHA interpretation and translations: liudmila harrison-jones
ZHA project admin: nastasija hahonina

consultants (competition stage)
structural engineering: AKTII, london; daniel bosia (design director)
environmental/ MEP engineering: A10, london; meredith davey (director),
cost consultant RLB international; mark weaver, gary danks, andrew blythe

consultants (schematic and design development stage)
local architects: a-projects/krost construction, moscow; denis kapralov (general director) maxim blinstein, philip simonov (project managers) ekaterina kuraeva (arch), marina zacharova, artemy biktimirov (mep), iliya kozlov, ivan labin (structure) natalya bobrovskaya, anthony evseev
structural engineers: AKTII, london; daniel bosia (design director), ricardo candel (technical director), christos digkas (project associate), alex grigoruk
environmental, LEED and MEP design: a10, london; meredith davey (design director), piers watts-jones (technical director), rodney barrett, scott hall, (fire design), volkan doda, younha rhee (LEED)
façade engineering: EOC, london; damian rogan (director), raphael petit and simon pierce (associates)
lighting design: OVI, new york;
enrique peininger and jean sundin (principal), rachel barrow, markus fuerderer
cost consultants: RLB, london/moscow; mark weaver, gary danks, andrew blythe
acoustic design: KP acoustics, london; kyriakos papanayiotou (director)
catering consultants: tricon, london;
gary thomson (design director)
traffic consultants: tyrens, london