Skolkovo Innovation Center

Markus Schaefer is acting as an adviser for urban design and planning to Maxmakers, Zürich, who has been charged with preparing the development strategy for the new Skolkovo Innovation Center. This initiative by Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev is aiming to build a new town for research and development in close proximity to Moscow.

Maxmakers is a consultancy for real estate and infrastructure projects in Zürich with branch offices in Abu Dhabi and Seoul. The firm has been involved in the development of the strategy for Masdar among many other projects.

The task of Markus Schaefer included developing a first diagrammatic development strategy and a program for the overall site which was to become part of the competition brief. The program included a function mix, gross floor areas and functional relationships for a complex research town with a university, research campus, housing, public facilities and much more.

Based on the development strategy an international masterplan has been held which was won by AREP in collaboration with Michel Desvigne and SETEC. In the meantime, several buildings have been design by architects such as OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, SANAA and many others.