The improvement of Moscow squares began to cause serious concern. A week ago, activist blogger Ilya Varlamov denounced the tender held in mid-October for the reconstruction of Triumfalnaya Square, showed everyone an alternative project from the Megabudka bureau and held a rally in defense of open tenders. And on December 2, four projects appeared at once on the website of the capital department of overhaul in the section "Concept of improvement of squares in Moscow" (the "Megabudki" project is the only one that is not there). Here you can see the project that won in the well-known tender, as well as four options for the improvement of Triumfalnaya from GlavAPU and two projects of the Wowhaus bureau - one for Triumfalnaya, the other for Revolution Square.
It is curious that the names of all projects published by the department are different. One is called reorganization, the other is the arrangement of the pedestrian space, the third is the improvement. We have collected all five projects here (including the Megabudki proposal) and invite you to discuss. However, no competition (apart from the already mentioned tender) has yet been announced.
UPD, 05.12.13: A spokeswoman for the overhaul department said that the Moscow authorities will soon announce a new tender for the reconstruction of Triumfalnaya Square, at the end of this year or early next year. In the meantime, architects are invited to send their concepts, which will be published and then submitted for expert and public discussion. Three projects already posted on the website: Trio, GlavAPU and Wowhaus, will be discussed next Monday at the Public Council under the Moscow Mayor for the Development of Public Spaces. By the way, the Megabudka bureau, which sent an alternative project for the reconstruction of Triumfalnaya Square to the department, has not yet received an answer.
Triumfalnaya Square / "Trio"
The winner of the above-mentioned tender, the project of "arrangement of pedestrian space" from the Bureau "Trio" (see the booklet) considers the most important features of his project to be comfort of movement and rest, intuitive navigation, preservation of old viewpoints and creation of new ones, active use (and not destruction) of existing objects on the area. And also - the possibility of transforming the area for celebrations.
Triumfalnaya Square / GlavAPU
The improvement concept of GlavAPU proposes to combine the square with the pedestrian zone of the reconstructed Tverskaya Street. The carriageway of Tverskaya is reduced by 2 lanes, a pedestrian esplanade is created along it: the sidewalk is expanded to 10 meters, a bicycle path and pedestrian crossings are added. Near the monument to Mayakovsky, a territory appears for holding art actions. In all variants there are quite a lot of lawns, on which, apparently, it would be “impossible to walk”.
Triumfalnaya Square / Megabudka (alternative project)
The essence of the "Megabudki" project is that the monument to Mayakovsky is placed in a triangular-ovoid depression, a kind of amphitheater, in which poetry readings and other public meetings could be held. The pedestal of the monument is increased and thus its height does not change. The architects cover the beginning of the First Brestskaya Street with a glass canopy and make it a pedestrian one. And on the left, closer to the beginning of Vtoraya Brestskaya, they are digging an underground parking lot. Evil tongues in social networks immediately came to the conclusion that the entire project was made in order to lobby for parking. However, we do not assert this, it is possible that this is not so.
Triumphal Square / Wowhaus
The Wowhaus project, called the "reorganization concept", does not imply underground parking and deepening around Mayakovsky. However, recalling all the same poetry readings, the authors build a triangular volume of the toilet with an amphitheater on its roof and with a glass cut of the walls. The area is covered with terracotta pavement with deepened lawn rhombuses, stripes of light and, in some versions, with columns and beams with an electronic running line lying on the surface.
Revolution Square / Wowhaus
The main problem of the Wowhaus Revolution Square is the loss of viewpoints, visual trash of space and unclear pedestrian connections. The authors propose to turn the square into an open-air museum of Moscow lanterns, make a pedestrian crossing along the axis of the Bolshoi Theater, open a passage between the Metropol and Kitaygorodskaya wall, setting up a pedestrian zone with summer cafes there. And also - to build a public toilet, fitting it into the relief of the square, and a kiosk with an info-facade in front of the metro entrance.
Prepared by Maria Goncharova