McDonald’s, Russia

Marking 30 years of McDonald’s in Russia, the brand opened a Landini Associate’s designed flagship store in Moscow’s Pushkin Square. The iconic site belongs to the country’s first ever McDonald’s, opened in 1990 with queues in snow that snaked all around Pushkin Square. Built over three floors with multiple mezzanines, the design intent is to put the spotlight on the food, service and people who come to enjoy it.

Concrete, glass, stainless steel and oak form a palette of modern simplicity. The colourful graphics that long ago became the signature for the brand have been replaced. Instead, the walls of celebrate menu items with stylised laser cut line drawings of McDonald’s iconic products as well as archery, fries and coffee beans, that are a nod to both the heritage and evolution of the brand. Customers are able to customise their meal and pay for their orders at the interactive self-ordering kiosks in the entrance hall beneath an illuminated ceiling. Traditional service and pick up points for takeaway orders sit adjacent.

Pushkin Square has one of the highest guest count globally of any McDonald’s restaurant, and so the layout of seating throughout has been designed to maximise privacy with mesh screens. New seating areas have been designed to accommodate families, groups and individuals. Zinc, concrete and oak tables and benches help define these zones. A key addition unique to Pushkin Square is the introduction of FreeStyle Step Seating. The look and feel of McCafe has evolved to be entirely timber, as a way to make it warmer and more inviting to customers, and to differentiate the independently serviced café from the rest of the restaurant. Mirrored ceilings are used to increase perceptions of height and also reflect the iconic Pushkin Square, creating energy in the space whilst still allowing it to be a place of calm and respite, ‘a bubble of happy’, from the outside world. A new lighting scheme has been conceived to deliver a calmer, more intimate experience that encourages customers to slow down and relax.