47 applications for the contest on the eco-district concept development in Kazan were considered at a jury meeting

(KZN.RU, August 22, Alsu Safina). The open international competition for the development of the concept and master plan of the eco-district in the Kirovsky district of Kazan approached its equator. Today they will announce three finalists who will continue to struggle in the contest. Applications of 47 teams were considered at the jury meeting. It took place in the architectural and educational space BFFT.space of the KSUAE, headed by Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT.

The jury members were Rustam Nigmatullin, the first deputy prime minister of the RT, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Natalia Fishman, an assistant to the President of the RT, Airat Nurutdinov, an assistant to the President of the RT and the chairman of the Council of the Republican Support Fund, Irek Fayzullin, the minister of Construction, Architecture, and Housing of the RT, Rashit Nizamov, the rector of the KSUAE, Stanley Lang Wai Cham, the partner of Turenscape, the director of the international design center Turenscape International limited, and other experts in the field of architecture, urban planning, and economics.

Opening the meeting, the head of the republic noted that the development of the eco-district in Kazan was prompted by the problematic situation that the affected depositors of Tatfondbank. In March last year, the Republican Support Fund was established in Tatarstan. Its goal is to support people affected by the activities of credit and financial organizations. A land plot of 759.9 hectares was allocated in Kazan for this purpose. It will be implemented, and the funds received from the sale will be distributed.

“We estimated our possibilities, and our largest reserve is 760 hectares of land located 300 meters from the Volga and 15 minutes from the center. We want this large project to proceed from the need to solve the tasks of the fund. At the same time, this place should be comfortable”, said the President of the RT. “This is a new urban environment. I would like the concept and the master plan to meet the challenges that exist today”, he added. “We have never had such projects. Yes, we have micro-districts, but there was no such experience in achieving this goal in that way”.

Rustam Minnikhanov marked that the participants of the competition will have to write into the project those elements that are already present taking into account the features of the land plot and its location. “This should be the most attractive territory for ecology and for living”, believes the head of the republic.

According to Rustam Minnikhanov, the decision to hold an open international competition for the development of the concept and master plan was good. He thanked all the contestants who took part in the contest.

The open international competition started on July 5. Sergey Georgievsky, the general director of the Agency for Strategic Development, reminded that the technical task was based on a large analytical study. The elaborated General Plan of Kazan was taken into account. The five main ideas that were laid during the organization of the contest are an extra-urban lifestyle in a comfortable urban environment, a new type of residential area that has no analogues in Kazan, maximum integration into the environment, the development of a system of public spaces and a harmonious residents’ community that live in a safe environment.

The competition is held in two stages. At the first stage, participants sent their applications. They had to submit a portfolio of 5 relevant projects of complex residential small- and medium-story buildings, an essay describing main ideas, and graphical visualization of architectural and town-planning solutions.

122 teams from 37 cities of 20 countries, including Russia, entered the competition. Only 47 teams from them submitted a full-fledged application.

Jury members selected participants who entered the contest's longlist. Three finalists of the contest will be selected after more detailed acquaintance with their applications. Sergey Georgievsky explained that the finalists will fly to Kazan and will work in the territory of the future eco-district. The seminar for finalists will be on September 20. They will have to develop an architectural and town planning concept and a general plan for the eco-district, a framework financial and economic model for implementing the concept until 2030, and a detailed architectural and town-planning concept and a draft design for the territory of the first stage of implementation.

The results of the contest will be announced on November 7. The prize fund of the contest is 12 million rubles.