The final meeting of the judges to the Open International Competition for the development of a master plan for the territory adjacent to the Samara Arena Stadium was held on On October 2nd 2020, one that may become one of the most significant locations in the city and the entire region. The Board of experts chaired by Dmitry Azarov, the Governor of the Samara Region, reviewed the four finalists’ concepts and chose the best project. The winner is the consortium headed by KPMG JSC.

Representatives of the finalist teams, consortia headed by Drees & Sommer Project Management and Building Technologies Ltd., IND Architects LLC, KPMG JSC, and Aurora Group LLC, gathered in Samara in order to personally introduce the outcomes of the four-months’ work and answer the judges’ questions. The experts evaluated the finalists’ work according to a number of criteria based on the key principles of development of an important urban area, namely: shaping a brand new urban environment, supporting active engagement of human resources, growth of investment potential.

“The experience gained across the globe by now is very diverse and exciting. The competition proved it once again. We will be paying special attention to take all the best ideas that currently exist both in our country and globally. There isn’t a slightest doubt that our region is going to embrace some suggestions, concepts and ideas which have been thought out in depth. We could probably use these ideas both for the land in question and across other cities in the Samara Region. I was really excited by the abundance of the ideas, land development approaches, and that creative momentum and the highest professionalism that were demonstrated by the competition participants.”
-Dmitry Azarov,Chairman of the Jury, Governor of the Samara Region

Finalists to the competition introduced diverse designs for integrated development of the territory with a total area of 397 ha, intended to reveal the potential of the FIFA World Cup 2018 heritage and the tourist potential of Samara.

Based on the finalists’ presentations, the jury chose the competition winner. The winner is the consortium headed by KPMG JSC, with the participation of LAND Srl (Milan, Italy), Asadov Architects LLC (Moscow, Russia), and the Samara Polytech University (Samara, Russia).

The major SAMARA GREEN CITY project concept was the clustered territory development along with implementation of multi-purpose complexes, and revealing the potential of the area to become a new agglomeration center of the Volga Region. The transformation strategy for the territory development is focused on three E’s: ecology, economy and emotions. Ecology and principles of environmental protections are applied to reinforce natural connections that were once lost, which eventually led to fragmentation of ecological network of the city. The notion of “Economy” is implemented in order to introduce economical aspects and create a stable economic system. The notion of “Emotions” is focused on creating a modern public space packed with various exciting leisure and recreation opportunities for Samara’s citizens and guests. Development of the territory involves integration into the Volga landscape, the creation of a radial green space network, and a cluster-based approach to master planning. Developing the territory in harmony with nature and creating a comfortable modern urban environment were the key challenges in the course of designing a master plan. The suggested project solution both shapes the space around the Samara Arena Stadium and becomes a driving force for development of the entire region.

“To my mind, the final stage of the competition was quite successful. We received interesting diverse works based on original ideas that could apply both to the land adjacent to Samara Arena, and to other projects across the region. Of course, the design by the KMPG consortium stood out as the most comprehensive, as far as the majority of the judges were concerned in the course of discussions, which finally resulted in a vote supporting it I would like to emphasize that all competition participants will have to further adjust their designs to take into account feedback from the judges and the technical specification of the Development Corporation.”
-Maksim Soyfer, General Director, Samara Region Development Corporation

Following the results of the meeting, the second prize was awarded to the consortium headed by Drees & Sommer Project Management and Building Technologies Ltd. (Moscow, Russia). The consortium includes CSIGHT GmbH (Hamburg, Germany), ASTOC ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS GmbH (Cologne, Germany), Center of Competence for Major Housing Estates (Berlin, Germany). Key city-planning elements of the SMART Samara concept are two new and impressive city quarters in the are of the Samara Arena Stadium. Technopolis cluster is the scientific research, healthcare and innovations campus in the northern part of the territory that is enhanced by numerous sporting, entertainment and leisure events in the Zhiguli Garden quarter adjacent to the stadium.

The Jury awarded the third prize to the consortium headed by IND Architects LLC (Moscow, Russia) participated also by UNStudio (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), AB DOM LLC (Samara, Russia), Knight Frank JSC (Moscow, Russia), Spectrum Holding LLC (Moscow, Russia), and NP NIITDKh (Moscow, Russia). The master plan elaborated by the team is based on the new life style; many people living in a megapolis dream of a “20-minute city” where anyone could spend as little as only 20 minutes to get to any city service and satisfy any of their needs: work, home, sport, outdoor activities, spending time alone or together with their families.

The fourth prize went to the consortium headed by Aurora Group LLC (Moscow, Russia) participated by Aukett Swanke Ltd. (London, Great Britain), PricewaterhouseCoopers (London, Great Britain), PHOSPHORIS SAS (Paris, France). The [SAMARA SLABODA – innovation territory] concept enables an environment to be created that offers freedom of thinking and experimentation. The concept is based on the idea of further developing the district as a heart of sporting activities in the city, and adding extra functionalities in order to ensure synergy between various functions.

Again, the Samara Region is working actively to create mechanisms that would enable leveraging of the infrastructure previously created for the World Cup. The competition initiated by the Samara Region Development Corporation and supported by the government of the Samara Region and the Samara Urban District Administration has become a part of this comprehensive work. Agency for Strategic Development CENTER was chosen as the operator of the competition.

“Today this competition is over, one that will surely be remembered as one of the first projects aimed at converting the sports venues that were built especially for the FIFA World Cup 2018 into hubs for comprehensive urban development. I’m sure that other regions that two years ago were proud to hold World Cup matches will be led by the example of Samara and consider integrating major sporting venues into the city fabric.”
-Sergei Georgievskii, CEO, Agency for Strategic Development CENTER

The task for the competition finalists was based on the comprehensive analysis of the territory surrounding the Samara Arena Stadium. As part of the research, experts analyzed the role and place of the stadium within Samara’s structure, evaluated the development potential for this territory, and elicited the most significant drivers that might impact selection of strategic pathways for its development. For the purposes of an in-depth study of the territory, a marketing analysis was conducted to assess the real estate market and global experience in working with sports mega-venues after an event which enabled a number of general trends to be singled out that might be applicable to the area around the Samara Arena Stadium.

The total number of potential applicants who registered for the competition was 127, representing 28 countries. This resulted in the filing of 27 applications by participants from 15 countries including Great Britain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The list of participants includes 76 companies: 7 individual entries and 69 entries that were part of 20 multinational consortia.

Below are the top 4 Designs: