The Basel firm Herzog & de Meuron has unveiled its new residential project, part of the plan to refurbish the Badaevskiy brewery, abandoned for decades along the banks of the Moscow River. Located in the center of the Russian capital, the two apartment blocks with glazed facades will rise on very slender stilts to a height of 35 meters above ground level, in a powerful reinterpretation of the Corbusian principle of elevating buildings on pilotis. Set over each curtain of pilotis is a series of platforms resembling those previously used by the Swiss partners in their housing development for Beirut.

Under the 100,000 square meters of dwellings laid out in these platforms, the industrial sheds of the old factory will be renovated. The two brick constructions will include retail units, a food market, co-working spaces, apartments, a gym, an art center, a bathhouse, and childcare facilities. The demolished central building, which connected the two blocks, will be reconstructed. Finally, below the apartments, the complex will feature a new public park, which will spread out under the curtain of pillars to connect the new development to the river.