Malye Kabany Closed International Competition: Kazan Russia

I am back from Kazan, Russia. It was a pleasure serving on the jury for an International Competition for a 1000 acre site on the outskirts of Kazan, and I look forward to seeing how the site development proceeds in years to come. Thank you to Unistroy, the largest developer in the Republic of Tatarstan and Agency for Strategic Development CENTRE for the opportunity to participate in this most worthwhile endeavour.

They may never wear these Vancouver hats ever again, but....

from the Unistroy website. While it's not a good name for a development company in English,  it combines 'unique' and the Russian word for buildings

Unistroy builds communities, not just buildings. Projects have ranged from single family subdivisions to highrise communities like this one.

It is interesting to compare new Russian apartment developments with those in Vancouver, where we tend to provide direct access to outdoor spaces for every unit. We also put the gas lines inside the walls, not on the outside!

The three finalists in the Kazan competition were from UK, Spain and The Netherlands. The goal is to build a new sustainable community that will become a model for future Russian developments.

 For those who didn't make it to my SFU Lecture, below are some images of Kazan, including a visit to Innopolis, www.innopolis.com a fascinating new university town now under construction about 50 km from Kazan. It is my hope that SFU might develop an affiliation with the university, which teaches all its courses in English. 

 

Since I arrived after classes had finished, the place was a bit deserted. But it's a very impressive university building.