The Pushkin museum, the finest museum of European art in Moscow, is under transformation. It encompasses the restoration of the museum itself, the acquisition of surrounding villas and the creation of new buildings to more than triple the museum’s exhibition and archive spaces. Foster and Partners is in charge of a masterplan that aims to establish a cultural quarter focused on the renovated museum. Located close to urban landmarks, including the Kremlin and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the masterplan scheme celebrates connections to its wider urban context. The content of the future open public spaces was found by observing the Russian landscape, especially its forests. Moscow is embedded in a region strongly characterized by its forests and woodlands. The parks of the Russian capital give testimony of the closeness of a near-natural environment to the hustle and bustle of urban reality.  Streets in the new quarter are pedestrianized and its boulevards, courtyards and gardens unified with an important tree layer. Through its vegetation, its topography, and the strong presence of tall trees, a kind of “urban forest” was conceived. Trees are interspersed along the vast mineral surfaces in order to provide comfort and coolness to the future cultural quarter.