ARENA PARK IN SAMARA

The concept for the development of a territory with a total area of 93,054 sq.m, located within the boundaries of Moskovskoye Highway, Rakitovskoye Highway, and Alma-Atinskaya Street, in the Kirovsky District of the Samara Urban Okrug.

• Total site area: 93,054 sq.m

• Total planned built area: 185,650 sq.m

• Building footprint: 39.7%

• Floor Area Ratio (FAR): 1.99

• Residential area: 147,400 sq.m

• Public/service facilities (including kindergartens and a school): 38,250 sq.m

• Parking spaces: 1,790 (0.73 per apartment)

• Landscaped area: 27,000 sq.m

• Building height: 7–20 stories

The project site directly borders the existing roadways of Alma-Atinskaya Street and Moskovskoye Highway. An analysis of the current urban fabric reveals that the dominant orientation of the surrounding blocks is either parallel or perpendicular to these roads. Adjacent neighborhoods, plots, streets, and even pedestrian paths appear to follow these primary directional axes.

The proposed urban design concept is structured around a central boulevard axis, which functions as the main spine of the district. This axis unifies the entire development and distributes pedestrian flows evenly into the courtyards. The boulevard is oriented perpendicular to Moskovskoye Highway, creating a dialogue with it while contrasting the dominant direction of Alma-Atinskaya Street. This axis reinforces the visual and spatial importance of Moskovskoye Highway and generates a dynamic geometry of plazas, courtyards, and fluid transitions between different spatial zones.

The concept reflects contemporary Western principles of residential neighborhood design, intra-block public services, and high-quality architectural environments. The authors aimed to create distinct visual identities and unique volumetric-spatial compositions for each courtyard.

The territory is divided into eight sectors and includes the following residential typologies:

• Linear blocks: 9–11 stories

• Towers: 13–20 stories

• Perimeter buildings: 7–12 stories

The high-rise towers along Moskovskoye Highway form the primary visual frontage toward the main transportation artery. Moving deeper into the site, the building scale gradually decreases, as do the distances between structures and their heights.

The development is planned in three construction phases. Taking into account local climatic conditions, the project includes covered pedestrian passageways—gallery corridors—designed to provide the most comfortable access to all intra-block amenities and services. These galleries run through the buildings and courtyards, offering sheltered routes: protected from snow and ice in winter, rain and wind in spring and autumn, and the intense sun in summer. They also simplify and reduce maintenance costs during harsh winter conditions.

The gallery passages can additionally accommodate various services, retail points, display windows, seasonal cafés, and waiting areas, as they are adjacent to first-floor commercial units with independent entrances. Storefronts of banks, postal offices, beauty salons, pharmacies, confectioneries, stationery shops, and other retail formats may open onto the galleries.

In our view, integrating galleries into modern urban developments is not only practical but increasingly relevant. Historically, many cities featured gallery-based architecture, and today we often recall with nostalgia the cozy, warm, human-scale arcades of historic districts—spaces that remain some of the most inviting and beloved urban environments.

Chief Architect of the Project:
Telemak Albertovich Ananyan, PhD in Architecture

Project Authors:
Hayk Babkenovich Martirosyan, Martina Giovanni Rotilo

3D Parametric Modeling:
Hayk Babkenovich Martirosyan, Martina Giovanni Rotilio

Visualization:
Matteo Guido Dollo (mataviz)