Sosnovy Bor is located a hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg along the Peterhof direction, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. In the past, this place, which was not yet a city, but only a cluster of villages, was known for the Glass Factory, where “Venetian” mirrors and stained-glass windows were made, which adorned rich Petersburg houses and shops. Including, for example, the Eliseevsky store on Nevsky Prospect. The modern development of Sosnovy Bor is associated with the Leningrad NPP.
The concept for the improvement of a part of the city beach and Primorsky Park - the territory for transformation was chosen by local residents - was developed by the Moscow architectural studio "M-4". Her portfolio includes many winning projects in the Small Towns competition of past years, including those for other nuclear cities: Kurchatov, Udomlya, Polyarnye Zor and Zarechny.
The coastal line with low dunes - a legacy of the Ice Age, can be called a natural landmark of Sosnovy Bor. Now the beach is littered, SUVs often call in, and besides, the dunes are destroyed by the winds from the bay. The authors of the concept set themselves two main goals: to contribute to the preservation of the landscape by architectural means, and also to replenish the city budget by creating new jobs.
“The feasibility of design solutions within the available budget is perhaps the most important thing, since this is not only an architectural, but also an infrastructure competition. The main result of which is not the victory of the application, but the implementation."
The “forest” part of the project is the entrance zone to the Primorsky Park. In addition to the minimum necessary infrastructure: parking, toilet, benches and paths made of wooden flooring that protect the forest from trampling, several commercial objects will appear. The main one is an ecological pavilion-lecture hall, which can be used all year round, as well as eight "fair" modules for trade, rental, cafes, etc. The author is also offered to put a stage for performances, a camping and a boat station in the park.
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zooming Sosnovy Bor - a project for the improvement of the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop No. 4
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zooming Sosnovy Bor - a project for the improvement of the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop No. 4
You can get to the beach via a pedestrian bridge that runs in a dune "canyon" reinforced with pine trees. Here, only small architectural forms are conceived: a flooring on stilts as a path, a rescue post, toilets and changing cabins, beach umbrellas, as well as a children's swing, a beach volleyball court and a surf station. The dune relief will be strengthened with retaining walls and new plants.
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zooming 1/3 Sosnovy Bor - a project for the improvement of the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop №4
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zooming 2/3 Sosnovy Bor - improvement project for the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop №4
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zooming 3/3 Sosnovy Bor - improvement project for the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop №4
The authors use images associated with the identity of the place. For example, in the paintings one can see the silhouettes of cooling towers or orbitals with electrons, and the shed roof and stained-glass windows of the pavilions are a reference to the Kalishchensky glass plant. In some places, “the atomic theme is combined with the natural, emphasizing the ambivalence of Sosnovy Bor”.
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zooming Sosnovy Bor - a project for the improvement of the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop No. 4
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zooming Sosnovy Bor - a project for the improvement of the southern part of Primorsky Park and the entrance group of the City Beach © Workshop No. 4
The project for Sosnovy Bor is one of two winning projects for the Leningrad Region this year. We have already written about the second, Gatchina “Aeropark”.
