The Dynamo stadium was built according to the project of architects Alexander Langman and Leonid Cherikover in 1928 for the All-Union Olympics, and then it was rebuilt and "brought to mind" for almost eight more years. In 1936, the horseshoe of the arena, originally open to the Petrovsky Park, was closed with the Eastern Stand, and the stadium acquired its present appearance, which organically combines the laconicism and geometricism of constructivism with the impressive monumentality of the Stalinist classics. Until the mid-1960s, Dynamo was the main sports complex in Moscow, where all major competitions in many sports were held, including the World and European Championships. For the 1980 Olympics, the sports facilities in Petrovsky Park were reconstructed, and the stadium became the arena for the football tournament of the Games. And now another 30 years have passed, and the constructivist stadium has again become dilapidated, and most importantly, morally obsolete. The decision to reconstruct it was made at the end of 2008, at the same time a developer (ST Development) appeared, ready to deal with it, and several architectural projects that provided, if not demolition, then a comprehensive restructuring of Dynamo. Further, enthusiasts of heritage protection first intervened in the course of affairs (formally, the stadium is not a monument, but, as public figures rightly believe, more than deserves this status), and then the economic crisis. The result of the latter was the change of the developer, and VTB, who came to the facility, decided not to limit itself to ordering one project from one architectural bureau, but to hold a full-fledged international competition.
There were several prerequisites for this competition. Firstly, only united teams - tandems of Russian and foreign architectural firms - could participate in it. Secondly, they had to design not only a new football stadium that meets all UEFA requirements, but also a multifunctional sports complex, as well as a shopping and leisure center with an area of 20,000 m2. On the neighboring site, historically related to Petrovsky Park and the Dynamo sports complex, the same investor plans to place a high-density commercial development consisting of an office complex, apartments and a 5-star hotel (the authors of the project are TPO Reserve and SPEECH). The planning project, developed for the entire territory of the sports complex, separates this area with a new passage. New facilities within the VTB Arena Park complex have been named: a football stadium for 40,000 seats - VTB Arena (hereinafter referred to as the Arena), a multifunctional hall for 10,000 seats - VTB Arena Hall (hereinafter referred to as the Hall), a shopping and leisure complex - "VTB Passage" (hereinafter referred to as Passage), and the office and hotel complex - "Petrovsky Park". The total investment in the implementation of all of the above objects, according to official statements of VTB management, will be about 1.3 - 1.4 billion US dollars.
ABD Architects and Perkins Eastman Architects began working on their own version of the project for the reconstruction of the Dynamo stadium with a detailed analysis of the urban planning situation, which cannot be called simple. At the heart of numerous difficulties, according to the unanimous opinion of both Moscow and New York architects, was the need to place the object of mass visit at the intersection of traffic and pedestrian flows, while preserving the natural park and cultural monument.
Two issues became the subject of intense discussion within the creative team: the location of the Hall and the Passage. The idea to place the Hall on the site of the existing training football field and indoor arena "Dynamo", intended for demolition, disappeared immediately. As a result of the construction of the Petrovsky Park complex, the existing pedestrian route connecting residential areas along Verkhnyaya and Nizhnyaya Maslovka streets with the metro station is cut. The new sports facility would block the last aisle, while the shopping center, on the contrary, allows the flow of pedestrians to pass through.
An important argument in choosing a location for the Hall was the location relative to the metro and the park. An analysis of the schedule of games (football / hockey / basketball) showed that this sports facility will be used almost daily, that is, much more often than the Arena. It became clear that the daily passage of a crowd of 5-10 thousand people through the park from the metro and back is destructive for the park. Thus, it was decided to combine both sports facilities inside the historic Dynamo stadium. This turned out to be possible due to the fact that it was designed and built as an athletics stadium, the dimensions of which are much larger than that of a football stadium.
American colleagues suggested not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved and to inscribe the Passage into the historical building, raising the football field to the level of +12.00 meters. In a similar way, for example, the Soldier's Field stadium in Chicago is organized, which is also an example of the adaptation of a historic sports facility to the conditions of the new century. However, this idea was rejected for a variety of reasons.
First, the location of a shopping center and parking lot with uncontrolled access directly under the football field and stands was deemed unsafe. Secondly, the area around the stadium is barely enough to ensure evacuation (in accordance with the norms of 0.5 square meters per person, i.e. for 40,000 evacuees, 2 hectares are required), and to clutter it with numerous ramps (and according to security requirements, access to the stands should be dispersed, and each sector needs a separate entrance) would mean to deprive her of the last "air". In addition, ramps would have obstructed much of the historic façades. And finally, the most important consideration: the field mark, raised 12 meters above ground level, automatically gave the height of the entire structure more than 60 meters. The architects decided that this was unacceptable from the point of view of preserving the image of the historical building and the panorama of the Leningradskoye Highway as a whole.
“However, in addition to arguments“by contradiction,”there is also a“positive motivation”for the chosen zoning of the territory, - explains Boris Levyant. - For example, in our opinion, such placement of sports facilities and the Passage creates an optimal transition from function to function - sports-park-retail-apartments-offices - increasing the quality of life in each contact area and adding value to each type of development. This effect is enhanced by the creation of a terraced green roof over the Passage: the park is enlarged by more than a hectare, and a street retail front rises from the side of commercial buildings, forming a busy pedestrian route over the passage, significantly increasing the attractiveness of the entire complex for visiting, including for social and cultural purposes”.
In the meantime, the two sports facilities were successfully connected under one roof. The football stadium is cold, with a surface only above the stands and a natural turf. The historic walls of "Dynamo" are transformed into an open gallery, from which the audience enters the lower bowl of the stands through short internal ramps, and into the upper bowl through stairs, elevators and escalators. The bowl of the stands is asymmetrical, with a decrease to the south. This makes it possible to fit the northern tribune of the small arena under it, and at the same time - provides a lowering of the roof elevation to Leningradka. From the side of the high northern stands, the roof tears off the edge of the historic wall, forming an open bypass gallery - the foyer of the upper bowl.
The Hall field is located 6 meters below the football pitch. This makes it possible to evenly distribute the load on the stands: the entrances to the small arena are located both at +0.00 (floor level of the historic stadium) and three meters below, from the stalls on Leningradsky Prospekt, located between two metro pavilions. The VIP-zone at the Arena and the Hall is common, as there will be no events on both fields at the same time.
Transport was a separate problem. In accordance with the town planning documentation, access to the territory of the complex is possible only from Teatralnaya, Petrovsko-Razumovskaya and Moskovskaya alleys, as well as from the projected underground passage - but not from Leningradka, and not from the TTK (Novaya Bashilovka). However, they decided not to take Teatralnaya and Moskovskaya alleys into account: at the time of the decisive matches, traffic on them will probably be blocked. Thus, the Petrovsko-Razumovskaya alley and the projected internal tunnel branching off from it remained. It must be admitted that it is practically impossible to provide high-quality transport services in such conditions. The architects of ABD and PEI proposed to create a one-way ring passage in the underground space with an entrance and exit through a scissor ramp - respectively, the entrance and exit are separated by more than a hundred meters, although they are located on the same street and at the same point.
An underground driveway to the sports complex is necessary, since this is the only way to fulfill the safety requirements when transporting athletes to the match. In addition, VIP parking is located under the stands. The rest of the parking spaces in the amount of 2,000 spaces are located under the Passage, which makes it possible to partially compensate for the difficulties when leaving: some of the visitors who left their cars there can spend time in a shopping gallery, cafes, cinema and exhibition halls. The halls of the children's sports school are located in the same zone.
According to the authors of the project proposal, this is the most sparing solution in terms of preserving the historic stadium, park and creating a new sports and recreation complex practically in the center of Moscow.
