In the center of Yekaterinburg, in the place where the Forum City residential complex should appear, it has been a vacant lot for ten years. Previously, the Central Market was located at the intersection of Sacco and Vanzetti - Radishchev - Sheinkman Streets: it opened in the middle of the last century, but over time turned into a disorderly heap of stalls and counters. They got rid of them in 2007, but at the same time they demolished the historic central pavilion with columns and completely cleared the site. They were going to build a residential complex of skyscrapers "in the spirit of the Chicago of the thirties", but the plans were hampered by the crisis.
The wasteland, which has managed to be overgrown with trees, is surrounded by new buildings. In the city, these houses are considered elite housing, but it would be a stretch to call them expressive: for the most part, these are sectional high-rise buildings with monotonous facades. Nearby stands the second highest Ural skyscraper after the Iset tower - Vysotsky (188 m).
Construction of Forum City will begin in September. The authors of the concept are LEVS architecten, Amsterdam. Dutch architects have designed a residential complex of a quarter type, the quarter grid is a layout that is historically characteristic of the center of Yekaterinburg.
Forum City is a quarter with a total area of 10.3 hectares, which is formed by nine towers ranging in height from eight to 30 floors: seven of them are placed along the perimeter, and two are located in the center. The demolished market was oriented to the west, its main pavilion stood on Sheinkman Street. In contrast, Forum City opens to the east, where, on the streets of Sacco and Vanzetti, there is a recently built long two-story shopping center. It will occupy the main part of the eastern flank of the quarter, and a glass pavilion will be attached to its entire western facade. At the corner of Sacco and Vanzetti and Radishchev Street, they will arrange something like a small plaza: there will be an entrance to the aforementioned pavilion, flowing around this space in a semicircle, the existing tram stop will remain, and the first floor of the adjacent tower will recede from the red line, forming a V-shaped support " visor".
The quarter is intended to be completely pedestrianized. The towers are united by a stylobate (part of it is the glass pavilion described above) - two-level, like the already existing shopping center - with entrances to the courtyard from the busy Radishchev street, quiet Central Market lane and Sheinkman street, along which you can go to the main city axis - the avenue Lenin.
It is planned to plant grass and trees on the roof of the stylobate along the entire perimeter to make the quarter visually more open to the city, and not resemble a fortress. The towers on the flanks will be terraced with greenery. The tallest tower - it stands in the northeastern corner of the site, at the intersection of Sheinkman Street and Central Market Lane - will have two terraces, designed at approximately the same elevations as the adjacent two roofs. All the roofs of the quarter will become operational, with trees, lawns and gazebos.
The planes of the facades of the towers along the outer perimeter of the quarter are rectangular, and the parts that are turned inward seem to be cut off along a pattern and have a smooth contour. Both buildings in the courtyard look like triangles with soft rounded corners on the plan. The outer facades of the tallest towers, facing the Central Market Lane, are rectangular up to the level of the tenth floor, but further develop into streamlined ones. The terraces are located at the junction of the two forms.
“City” facades and “courtyard” facades are fundamentally different both in rhythm and in materials. The rectangular part of the block, including the stylobate, is faced with variegated terracotta-white brickwork. At pedestrian level, there will be large showcases of commercial premises, enclosed in "platbands" of wooden panels. The brick solution of the facades is partly a postcard from Amsterdam, where the office of Levs Architecten is located, but it also recalls the brick style, in which at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. many city estates were built, and most importantly - industrial buildings in Yekaterinburg and the rest of Russia.
The streamlined parts of the facades are designed in modern materials, they look more light and dynamic. This impression is created by a chaotic, at first glance, alternation of wooden lattice inserts, which go beyond the plane of the enclosing structures, and gray panels of the main finish. The horizontal belts of white borders are scaled according to the height of the tower. On some buildings, they will go in increments of two floors, and on others - in one. Thus, each house from the side of the courtyard will have its own look, inscribed in the general style of the quarter.
The site has a significant difference in relief. From west to east, it goes down eight meters. In the central part of the block, the height difference is about four meters. Thanks to this, the courtyard will become two-level: from the side of Sacco and Vanzetti streets, residents will get through the pavilion to the lower part of the courtyard, and from the side of Sheiknman and Radishchev streets - to the upper one. They will be connected by a staircase. Part of the lower courtyard will be covered, with "oculus" and fountains. It will become an area of shops, cafes and restaurants with an expected open access for all citizens. The upper courtyard will be private, only for apartment owners, with landscaping elements that repeat the shape of the towers with smooth contours: pedestrian paths, paving, lawns, flower beds, a playground.
Entrances to commercial premises will be located along the outer perimeter of the block, while the entrance halls of the residential part will be located from the courtyard side. The smallest apartments are designed with an area of 46 m2, and the largest, penthouses - 144 m2… A total of 50,000 m is planned for Forum City2 housing and 9,000 m2 commercial space.
Paying tribute to the spirit of the place, they decided to organize a modern farmers' market on the territory of the quarter, and on the top floor of the 100-meter tower there will be a bar with a panoramic view of the city.
In the Forum City project, the architects managed to find a balance: dense buildings neatly fit into the existing fabric of the city and repeats the planning pattern traditional for Yekaterinburg. The quarter will become bright, but at the same time it will look delicate, and besides, it will restore its historical function, which was lost with the demolition of the Central Market, although in a modern interpretation.
