| Title: | iCity, Moscow, Russia |
| Markets: | Retail and Workplace, Mixed-use |
| Client: | MR Group |
| Services: | Landscape architecture |
| Region: | Europe & Russia |
| Date: | Ongoing |
| Team: | Gillespies and JAHN Architects |
iCity is a unique landscape environment within the Moscow cityscape. An elevated podium landscape flows seamlessly from internal atrium to outdoor garden, offering residents a sanctuary amongst the planting, helping to improve well-being and foster a greater awareness of the natural world.
iCity is a pioneering commercial-led mixed-use development in Moscow, comprising two towers with a large internal atrium and podium landscape and an external garden.
At 34 floors and 61 floors high, respectively, the development for MR Group will be the tallest building in Moscow. Its bold geometry and bright red accents, signatures of JAHN Architects, will establish iCity as a new landmark within the Moscow skyline.
Inspired by nature, our landscape concept balances the beauty and seasonal variety of planting as a counterpoint to the precise geometry of the architectural proposals. The design has been considered beyond the limits of the site boundary, taking consideration of the users' experience as they approach the buildings to choreograph a series of experiences from the entrance arrival space, moving into the towering lobby area, before rising through the heart of the building to the destination; an elevated garden at the upper podium level.
The scheme's location, surrounded by significant infrastructure and highways, creates an opportunity to emphasise the contrast between the harsh urban landscape and nature's form, colour, and seasonal complexity. This contrast leads to the simplicity of a single radiating paving pattern overlaid with swathes of more informal soft landscape, with distinct sections of the podium landscape utilising planting palettes to reference specific landscape typologies, whether woodland, meadow or the wild.
