Functional zones

The range and allocation of different functional zones within the district are determined by social needs and must provide convenient conditions for labour, everyday life and leisure of Akademia City residents. Social establishments (schools, kindergartens, cultural facilities) will be situated in every block and be easily accessible on foot, so that children do not have to cross busy main streets on their way there. Thus, everyday life will become safer and more convenient.

Shops and pharmacies are located primarily on the ground floors and overlook the streets. They are evenly spread over the district and within easy reach of all Akademia City residents. Further retail space will be provided by an entertainment and shopping centre with the first phase GLA of about 100 000 m2.

Public space in the form of interconnected streets and squares is structured according to the most up-to-date city-planning standards. Pedestrian walkways running from the North to the South across the whole district connect the centre of each block with the central park area. The central park with an area of 65 hectares, located in the southern part of the first stage of construction, will also encompass cultural, sports and leisure facilities.

The central business and administrative sector located close to the central park will be comprised of multi-storeyed buildings built up densely along the main road. The first stage of construction also envisions creation of the so-called diplomatic quarters – a block that will host diplomatic missions and consulates accredited in Yekaterinburg. A fire-station and a police station will also be built at the first stage of construction.

The first phase of Akademia City further envisions construction of an industrial park that will promote R & D and also have production capacities for manufacturing developed products.

Akademia City will have its own medical centre that will occupy a whole block. The Medicine Town will accommodate public and commercial hospitals, ambulatory and policlinic institutions (GP ambulances, clinics, consulting and diagnostic centres) and an emergency station. In addition, dental clinics, infant policlinics and diagnostic centres will be spread over the whole district.

Buildings’ Height

Architectural diversity of the district is achieved by means of varied density and height of buildings: while the central part is generally higher and denser, the neighbourhoods bordering upon the forestlands are lower and more dispersed. Density of construction reaches its peak with 25-storeyed buildings in the district centre offering a marvelous view of the park and goes back to its minimum in the south of the district, where individual construction will be implemented. The larger blocks will be formed by 10 to 16-storeyed buildings overlooking boulevards. Inside the blocks, lower 6-storeyed houses overlooking green pedestrian walkways will be built.

City planning regulations

Central vertical spaces, lying parallel to roads, will host social establishments (cultural, sports, medical and educational establishments) and inner squares. Transverse spaces will connect green pedestrian walkways with the forestland. These lines, located in the middle of construction blocks, will host squares and other objects. Residential developments are grouped around public areas, while all squares are surrounded by public and social objects.

Access to cultural institutions, kindergartens and schools is from inner streets. Kindergartens are located in each quarter, while sports facilities are based in forestlands and adjoin schools.

Medical facilities are situated in squares and on the ground floors of residential buildings overlooking boulevards. The access to them is through inner streets. Public services establishments are located in the outskirts of construction blocks, on the ground floors of buildings. Shops are located on the ground floors of buildings overlooking boulevards.

Construction sketches

In order to break the visual extension and to protect the core of a block, it can be broken into two or three parts on both sides of the main road. The centre of every block shall be protected from the transit traffic. Thus, all blocks will be varied, and transit traffic will be limited. These options suggest a lot of site design opportunities and can be combined by different methods. Variety of the district comes from its centre.

Traffic

Road network of the district is a rectangle with cellular structure which provides for an uninterrupted traffic system that conforms to the function of streets and planned intensity of traffic. The main streets are Serafima Deryabina Street and Akademik Sakharov Street.

Construction blocks are determined by main roads of the master plan. The blocks are in turn divided into quarters by minor roads running from the east to the west. Depending on the particular place, blocks can be divided by one or two roads, into two or three quarters respectively. Each quarter is served by North – South inner streets. These streets are constructed around public spaces so as to avoid creation of North - South transit traffic flows and to bring the traffic to boulevards instead.

Quarter inner streets have access to underground parking, private surface parking lots and services facilities. Road network of the district is designed to keep out undesirable transit traffic.

Cross-sections of streets and roads are designed depending on the width of roadways and provide for the forecasted growth of number of cars after the year 2025. Special attention is given to design of junctions that serve as a gateway to the district. Efficient technical solutions will help to rule out traffic jams both in and around Akademia City. Besides, at the intersections of main streets pedestrian underpasses will help increase the safety of pedestrians.

Parking areas

To reduce their influence on public areas, almost all isolated parking lots will be located underground. The depth of an underground parking depends on the depth of the stone basement (3 to 9 meters) and will vary from 1 to 3 levels. The southern part of the first phase of Akademia City will contain 3-level parking lots (given the high density of population), the central part will have 2-level parking lots, and parking lots in the North will only have 1 level.

Underground parking lots under residential houses will coincide with them in shape, so that public spaces and squares will lie on solid ground, which guarantees high quality of green areas and continuity of underground waters between the forestland and the Patrushikha river.

Additional car parking areas in some quarters will be located in separate stylobates. To improve traffic, surface car parking spaces will be removed from the roadway and placed on special stripes of land between the roadway and sidewalks.