The topic of transforming the territory of Strelka is still on the agenda of Nizhny Novgorod residents. The port has been withdrawn, preparations for the 2018 World Cup continue, an expert commission, created by order of the governor, is working until June 15.
While experts are assessing the state of metal structures, collecting information about the historical and cultural value of the place at the confluence of the Volga and Oka, writing working concepts for redevelopment, the design continues.
It never stopped: the topic of Strelka has been in the graduate works of NNGASU for more than a decade, and now the Department of Design of the Architectural Environment has chosen it for the course work of students. Three best projects were presented to the public organization "Open Strelka".
It is a pity that until recently, the authorities continued to call reflections on the fate of this landmark place for the city "Wishlist", referring to the decisions already made on preparations for football matches. However, it is precisely projects similar to these three works that arouse understanding and sympathy among the townspeople, since to a certain extent they reflect the desire to see Strelka as a public, multifunctional place that preserves its history, meanings and values.
Live Strelka
Alena Makalova, Evgeny Kondratov, Pavel Vokhlachev
It was important for the authors of the project to create a modern public space that preserves historical objects and details, to reproduce the lively, dynamic atmosphere of Strelka - the port of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The territory is conditionally subdivided into three zones: art cluster, historical (settlement) and park.
1. In the area of the art cluster along the Oka River, a wooden embankment begins - a connecting link for the entire territory. It houses an amphitheater with a floating stage. The cycling route of the Zarechnaya part of the city stretches here. In reinforced concrete warehouses (30s, 20s) there is a cluster itself, with exhibition and stage spaces, premises for various creative associations.
2. The historical zone is located along the axis of Strelka Street and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, closed on the Volga side by warehouses with metal structures. There are traditional harbor buildings, merchant shopping arcades, as well as partially recreated fairground buildings. This chamber area from the side of the Petersburg pier is a kind of collective image of the Nizhny Novgorod port of different times. Warehouses with metal structures - after renovation - can serve as multifunctional pavilions.
3. It is proposed to create a canal in the park zone, the banks of which are protected from the wind. Here - "quieter than water, below the grass" - you can relax and meditate. Complete relaxation ends in a backwater with an amphitheater, compositionally repeating the amphitheater of the public zone. It is possible that here they will play on shells, listen to the wind, in winter - the crunch of ice and snow.
"Projection of the Kremlin"
Irina Ryzhevskaya
The Kremlin-Strelka connection is the main semantic axis of Nizhny Novgorod. The city began with the construction of the Kremlin, Strelka is associated with the history of the development of the Nizhny Novgorod fair. But the territory of the port, located on Strelka, has been restricted for the last 80 years, and the author proposes to start its renovation with a bright design solution. Along the lines that converge to Cape Strelki, there are pavilions - red, like a red-brick Kremlin. These can be copyright objects, including those made gradually, as a result of competitions. It is also possible to develop and build these objects already for the 2018 World Cup, filling them with functions that meet the interests of guests of the city. The author has added variety to the landscape - now the cathedral is surrounded by an artificial lake.
Pendulum project
Ivan Korsakov, Anastasia Baranova
The main idea of the project is to create an active volume at the end of the Strelka Cape. This volume represents an engineering structure, which is natural and symbolic, because Nizhny Novgorod is recognized as a city of inventors and engineers. The "Pendulum" has a glazed observation deck on the lower tier, with gentle slopes to the embankment on both sides and two central staircases. At the end of it, at different levels, there are two round platforms: the upper one is fixed and motionless, the lower one is the "pendulum" - floating, moves passengers from the center of the axis to the edges, passing along the radius.
The existing route along the axis of the temple has been re-planned. On the left side there is a wide pedestrian part leading to the cathedral. Further, it is divided into two possible paths: one to the embankment and warehouses from the Oka, the second goes to the left of the cathedral and goes to the main compositional axis. On the way to the warehouses along the Volga, according to the authors' idea, bird aviaries will be located. A circular detour is organized for transport.
In order to preserve the direction of the axis and continue the journey, the first warehouse is cut by a glass passage. This transit passage allows visitors to inspect metal structures on the go and get out to the Volga.
In the end, all paths converge on the main Arrow square. And warehouses along the Oka are being transformed into structures commensurate with them. There are trade pavilions, a small copy of Shukhov's tower, public premises, classrooms and offices.
