Historically, Paveletskaya Square was "closed" and "chamber", separated from the Garden Ring by a quarter. Later, at the end of the 19th century, a railway station was built there, and the entire space in front of it was given access to the Garden Ring. For a long time, the Zatsepsky market was located on the square. Today, Paveletskaya Square occupies about 3.5 hectares, but almost all of its territory is fenced off, behind which, since 2010, there is an abandoned foundation pit of an unfinished mall.
The Mosproekt-2 Institute, headed by Mikhail Posokhin, proposed to build a multifunctional shopping center on the site of the pit, which goes 15 meters underground. Three levels are envisaged inside. A parking lot for 500 cars will be organized at the lowest one, and shops, a cinema and a food court area, illuminated by a second light, will be located above. Thanks to the atrium, which penetrates the volume of the complex along the entire height, natural light will penetrate all floors of the complex.
Three pavilions with the function of entrance groups are supposed to be brought to the surface of the earth. In addition, glass cubes of evacuation stairs will be located closer to the Garden Ring.
The square improvement project was developed by Buromoscow. Yulia Burdova and Olga Aleksakova told the council members that their task was to preserve historical traces on the square, which today is very important for the city. Having carefully studied the surroundings and pedestrian flows coming from the exits from the metro and the station, the architects proposed to divide the entire space into two functional zones: the transit part along the station and the public space on the square itself.
The area in front of the entrances to the Paveletsky railway station was left practically free so as not to interfere with the movement of pedestrians. On the contrary, new types of activity are emerging on the square. On the left side, where the Zatsepsky market was located, a lively urban space with street cafes, a wooden podium for events and recreation of the townspeople, and a convenient public transport stop is organized. The entire left side is flanked by flowering shrubs.
On the right, from the side of Kozhevnicheskaya Street, there are the pavilions of the underground shopping center. Their designers decorate them with a ramp with a slope of 5%, which you can climb and look at the river. Thus, in this part, additional activity of visitors is provided. In the center of the square, a small park has been organized, where low trees and a lawn will be planted in straight rows in the direction from the railway station to the Garden Ring. Landscaping will be raised 70 cm above the paving level. Benches and recreation areas will also appear there. Images for the improvement project can be viewed
here.
The council members raised a number of objections to the project. Nikolai Shumakov did not like the pedestrian and transport components: the connection with the station was interrupted by the road and tramways, only one staircase leads from the metro to the new shopping center and the square, the emergency exits are very inconvenient - you cannot approach them, and the park insistently invites you to go to the loaded with cars Garden Ring road. Shumakov was also embarrassed by the absence in the project of an additional exit from the metro, located directly on the square. The authors explained that this flaw was due to their lack of access to the design documentation of the metro, but at the same time they assured that at the next stage of work the lobby would be included in the project, and this would not affect the improvement of the square.
Alexander Tsimailo drew attention to the location of the loading area of the complex directly on the square in front of the main facade of the station, which looks rather strange. During operation, these zones will most likely be fenced off, which will additionally block the building's facade, Tsimailo said. In his opinion, the utility entrances should be removed or at least moved apart.
Yuri Grigoryan noted that Paveletskaya Square is one of the most important squares in the city, so one should be very careful about its improvement. Grigoryan was embarrassed by the decision to raise the landscaping above the ground, which is why the feeling of a park area is lost, the shrubbery and lawn look like a temporary measure, and the whole space is like the roof of a shopping center. He advised the authors of the project to convince the customer to lower the mark to ground level by deepening the shopping center itself.
Mikhail Posokhin explained to his colleague that in their project the architects tried to preserve the station as a dominant, so they decided the whole space in front of it as simply as possible. In addition, the relief in the square rises from right to left, so when planting trees in the ground, terraces will have to be formed. Sergey Kuznetsov also spoke in favor of the idea of raising the trees above the ground, since the aggressive environment and reagents are very harmful to greening in the city. Yuri Grigoryan explained that the relief cannot be an obstacle to quality improvement. The central entrance to the station is 1.8 m above ground level, which allows creating a new "sculpture" of the relief. With the existing drop of more than 2 meters, these changes will not be visible, Grigoryan is sure.
Sergei Tchoban offered to support the project, but advised to pay attention to the quality of the details, such as, for example, the minimum distance between the ramp of the entrance to the shopping center and the adjacent pavilion or the rhythm of the glass volumes of the evacuation stairs, which does not correspond to the facade of the station. The most correct, according to Choban, would be to remove them altogether. But if this is impossible, then at least try to take into account the composition of the building.
Evgeny Ass noticed that the projects of the shopping center and the improvement of the square are poorly connected with each other, even the plan of the minus-first floor does not correspond to the ground lobbies. Assu also found it strange that the shopping center could not be accessed directly from the underground and underground station. In his opinion, this will significantly reduce the flow of visitors. In general, Evgeny Ass liked the aesthetics of the project, but the quality and status of the place in it, in Ass's opinion, is not fully manifested.
Despite a number of comments, Sergei Kuznetsov suggested supporting the project with the condition that all details be finalized. He recalled that for about ten years there has been an abandoned pit on the square, and now it is very important to give the project, which presupposes a high-quality improvement of the square, a move without frightening the investor with a huge number of restrictions.
