The large ski jump on Vorobyovy Gory, created in 1953 according to the project of Alexander Galli, an engineer and theorist in the field of construction of sports facilities, has not functioned for a long time. According to the assurances of specialists, it cannot be reconstructed, since its characteristics do not correspond to modern requirements. An important place for the city and unique in terms of relief can be occupied by a sports park, for which a new springboard has been developed. The project also envisages stands, a referee's tower, a restaurant overlooking Kosygin Street, a sports school for 60 students in the central part of the springboard and three cable car stations - it will connect the upper observation deck with the territory of the Luzhniki stadium. The approximate cost of the project, which received the poetic name "Ray of Light", will be about $ 2 million.
By offering to dismantle the existing structure, AI architects still pay tribute to the engineering tradition of the first half of the last century and erect a new metal frame from standard factory-made replaceable parts. It will be sewn into a box of glass panels, so that the whole structure will resemble a giant beam.
The structure is set at a 28-degree angle and anchored to only one central platform, which almost completely frees the slope from the supports and creates an impressive 60-meter console. The spectacularly flying jump mast is additionally supported by Macalloy cables stretched inside the box on both sides of the springboard. The glass panels reflecting the greenery and the sky make it look bulky or unwieldy.
Thus, the plastically complex, curvilinear bend of the canvas of a modern springboard is inscribed in a rigid, geometrically correct structure. The architects managed to increase the estimated power of the jump from 72 to 75 m. It seems that a slight change in dimensions will nevertheless increase the class of the sports facility and allow it to host more prestigious competitions. An inclined elevator hidden in the structure's trusses will take athletes to the launch site, and a vertical elevator from Kosygin Street will take 75 people to the viewing platform at the very end of the console every hour.
