An open architectural competition of ideas was organized and conducted by the Museum of Architecture with the support of the Moscow City Architecture Committee with the aim of rethinking the urban space located in the area of Borovitskaya Square, the intersection of Mokhovaya and Znamenka Streets, Vozdvizhenka and Krestovozdvizhenskiy Pereulok. We publish winning projects with author's descriptions.
1.
Andrey Adamovich, Mikhail Orlov, Maxim Vertiporokh, Elizaveta Kosikhina and Tatiana Venzeleva
On the territory of the site there is a large number of architectural monuments, museums and places of attraction, which are now not connected into a single network. In this project, the main task for us is to create a continuous pedestrian space capable of uniting the main pedestrian area of the central part of Moscow and providing easy access to the city's museum network. The territory bounded by Mokhovaya and Znamenka Streets, Vozdvizhenka and Krestovozdvizhenskiy Lane is being transformed into a pedestrian zone with the use of courtyard spaces included in the museum cluster.
One of the main objectives of this project is to connect the separated sections of the boulevard ring, to create the possibility of continuous pedestrian traffic from Nikitsky Boulevard to the Kremlin, through Gogolevsky Boulevard and Volkhonka Street. The constantly interrupted boulevard ring creates inconvenience for pedestrians; underground pedestrian crossings are not an adequate way out of this situation. The need to make boulevards more accessible and pedestrian-friendly led us to create an open elevated passage between boulevards. The massive walkway, as wide as the connecting boulevards, is covered with greenery and trees. Boulevards connected by this method allow not to interfere with traffic on this section, and a high-quality urban environment filled with green spaces is created for pedestrians.
2.
Anastasia Ter-Saakova and Alexey Kotlyarsky
The tender proposal considers aspects of improving the quality of the environment of this site. The project proposal includes consideration of the factor of pedestrian accessibility of the territory and the possibilities of using its resources. There are 2 hiking trails on the site. The first is closed and runs through the central squares and quarters. It starts from the Tretyakovskaya metro station, across the island, bends around the Kremlin. The second route is a chord route from the Kitay-Gorod metro station to the Kropotkinskaya metro station, and it includes both new pedestrian zones in Moscow and the main objects of museum purposes (MUAR, Lenin Library, Pushkin Museum).
The analysis showed that the pedestrian connectivity of the area under consideration with the surrounding city is rather uneven and suggests a small number of possible paths. Also, the permeability of the site itself is hampered by various factors, for example, closed aisles and lanes, cut by high-speed streets, without ground crossings, pedestrian traffic is often carried out next to main streets. The creation of new pedestrian links will attract visitors to these neighborhoods and will contribute to their development.
3.
Anton Ivanov
The project policy is based on six proposals. This is a menu of opportunities that grows as the resources for their implementation in the city increase. Six equal ideas are simultaneously interconnected and consistently realizable, but also independently realizable separately.
Option I. Radio
The first step towards the creation of the Museum Quarter is the unification of cultural institutions using the Internet. The intangible invasion project proposes to equip a network of wi-fi routers on the territory of the Museum Cluster. Every visitor, tourist and guest of the quarter just needs to have a smartphone or laptop to use the network for free and go to the guest page of the Museum Quarter.
Option II. The festival
Pre-revolutionary Moscow has always been famous for its fairs and rich markets. Reviving the tradition of a large city street event, the museum cluster hosts the first Moscow one-day Festival. The festival program is looped inside the Museum Cluster.
Option III. Pavilion
The territory of the Museum Cluster is extremely closed. In terms of the number of fences and gates per square meter, this area within walking distance from the Kremlin surpasses any suburban village. To lift the Cluster's territory out of the temporary paralysis of self-identification, an annual architectural competition is held for a pavilion inside the Cluster's territory. The main condition of the competition task is the activation of urban life and the viability of the program over the next three years.
Option IV. Master plan
The master plan for the Museum Cluster is based on the idea of developing the territory as an integral interior that unites already existing "rooms" of museums, offices and houses into a single space. The master plan frees the area from heavy traffic, while not disrupting the city's communication arteries.
Option V. Inside the master plan. Urban Landscape Depository
The area between Starovagankovsky and Krestovozdvizhensky lane, Znamenka and Vozdvizhenka streets is marked by an extremely extraordinary degree of desolation, in contrast to the strict grooming of the Kremlin, which is very close. There is no clear system of space here. The depositary objectively shows a characteristic Moscow with its own flavor, completely unlike any other European city. In this area, the implementation of the master plan is limited to the creation of thin tourist lines of roads that allow you to stroll slowly, observing one of the most beautiful places of desolation in Moscow. The reconstruction of the street is of an archaeological nature.
Option VI. Inside the master plan. Center for New Architecture
Moscow has a breathtaking skyline. What had never been able to work out unity at the level of the plan merged into a surprisingly eloquent pattern at the level of the city skyline. All the experience of Moscow architecture can be combined only with a panoramic view. For this, the last floor of the book depository of the Library is ideally suited to them. Lenin. Since the commissioning of an additional building of the book depository is planned by 2015, the silently discharged building will be able to purchase new filling. The Center for New Architecture combines a welcome information desk of a museum cluster, an exhibition area of the MUAR, a lecture and film program, a cafe, and a bookstore. An elevator shaft with a separate entrance from the side of Starovagankovsky lane is being equipped.
Projects that have received special awards
1.
Architectural bureau "Studio-TA"
The modern historical center of Moscow is a territory with a high concentration of cultural objects and historical and architectural monuments. Within walking distance from each other are the Kremlin Museums, the Bolshoi Manege, the State Historical Museum, the Russian State Library, the State Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchusev, State Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin, Rumyantsev Museum. Unfortunately, the existing pedestrian network does not allow convenient movement between the key sites in the area.
The project proposes the development of the territory of the Moscow center in the area of Borovitskaya square, the intersection of Mokhovaya and Znamenka streets, Vozdvizhenka and Krestovozdvizhensky per., With the possibility of creating a Museum cluster. To create a social and cultural space in this zone, it is necessary to redirect the existing pedestrian and traffic flows. The change in the pedestrian and transport network of this area will not only connect the largest cultural objects with each other, but also make the area a place of recreation with the possibility of holding open-air exhibitions.
2.
Alexander Zelikin, Anastasia Kazakova, Galina Shub and Project Russia magazine
Analysis of the design area shows that it can hardly represent a single museum cluster. On the one hand, the supporting trio of institutions chosen by the organizers of the competition - the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve, A. V. Shchusev and the Pushkin Museum named after A. S. Pushkin - is incomparable in terms of attendance.
On the other hand, we have to doubt that an active transit of visitors between the Moscow Kremlin and the Museum of Fine Arts will exist at all. At least for the foreseeable future. The absence of cross flows between them is due to other reasons. Mainly related to the size of these institutions. Both the Kremlin and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts claim to be a kind of "museum township" in which visitors spend several hours and walk several kilometers. Having visited one of these institutions, the overwhelming majority have neither the strength, nor the time, nor the emotions to view another exposition. This, in particular, is proved by the experience of the Historical Museum (GIM), where the flows of visitors to the Kremlin practically do not settle.
However, the tasks of modernization and increasing the attractiveness of the State Research Institute of the Moscow. A. V. Shchusev does not negate this at all. In our opinion, such a task can be solved if we pay attention to another anchor cultural object located on the Volkhonka and Mokhovaya line - Leninka, the Russian State Library. For the Museum of Architecture Leninka is an interesting potential partner. Undoubtedly, the development of a detailed model of this cooperation requires a thorough study of the activities of the RSL and GNIMA. In a sketchy and most preliminary form, it seems to us advisable to recommend the creation of a joint venture Joint Venture LENIN - SHCHUSEV (abbreviated LESH) and outline a number of its possible projects.
The first such project could be the placement of an exposition of 20th century architecture in the main staircase hall and hall No. 1 of the RSL. The second project is the placement of a multifunctional conference hall in the Ivanovsky building, located in the courtyard of the RSL. The third project is the superstructure of the book depository with a one-story glass volume with an exposition of 21st century architecture and a panoramic roof terrace. And finally, the fourth project is the reorganization of the GNIMA complex, taking into account the merger with Leninka. Thus, in the area of Mokhovaya and Volkhonka, not one museum cluster will be formed, but three: Leshch plus the "towns" of the Kremlin and the Pushkin Museum.
3. Olga Mironova
The project proposes to create several walking routes (cultural, historical, functional, recreational and tourist), which will help to integrate a large number of cultural and architectural monuments into a single system. To ensure the most convenient movement, a unified navigation system is being developed consisting of signs, information kiosks and characteristic new landscaping. In order to preserve and emphasize the existing architectural historical character of the city as much as possible, interference with the existing environment is minimal. All proposed architectural forms are temporary and can be adapted depending on function, season, etc.
The regeneration of pedestrian traffic is being developed in several stages, which will allow the most convenient and rational use of resources and existing public space at each stage.
