In December last year, the Dutch bureau MLA + became the winner of the open international architectural competition of the Moskomarkhitektura and the A101 Group of Companies for the development of the concept of public spaces with an area of 100 hectares on the territory of the Scandinavia residential complex in New Moscow.
Over the year, the concept has turned into a full-fledged project, jointly developed by the specialists of the A101 Group of Companies, MLA + and MAP architects, and this spring the developer promises to show the embodiment of the first stage of its implementation. This will be a linear park with an area of 10 hectares as part of the first stage of the development of the residential complex "Scandinavia", in which the natural natural frame of the territory, including trees and a reservoir, has been preserved.
On the anniversary of the competition, Svetlana Afonina, head of the urban development department of the A101 Group of Companies, recalls how the winning project differed from its competitors, whether it is so important for the authenticity of the project to place bronze sculptures on the territory and how the design code can help the integrated development of large territories.
At the end of last year, your company held a competition for the concept of public areas and landscape of the Scandinavia residential complex. Why won MLA+ what seemed important in their project?
An important marker in deciding on the choice of the winner was the architects' understanding of the principles that were laid down in the terms of reference.
First, the total area of the Scandinavian region is 300 hectares, of which more than 100 hectares are significant urban public spaces. In fact, this is one of the most ambitious projects in the Moscow region to create a new generation of open urban public spaces. For comparison, the area of the historical parterre of the Gorky Park is approximately 45 hectares. To ensure the overall quality of the environment, it was necessary to propose the transmission of meanings and values at the level of the entire territory.
Secondly, public spaces were to be seen as a marketing product that would help attract both residents and businessmen to the territory. What is important is the broadest coverage of event formats, taking into account the interests of all socio-cultural groups. The range and functions of public spaces should create conditions for the formation of a multi-layered life in the district - each public space should have an individual theme, meaning, image. At the same time, landscaping, design and MAF serve to embody the idea of a place.
It was equally important to reveal the natural potential of the territory, that is, to create a system of public spaces based on a sustainable “green and blue frame” and “green and blue infrastructure”, when nature is “woven” into the urban fabric. In addition, it was required to establish a balance between the priority of natural and urbanized surroundings for each zone.
And finally, the concept of public spaces was to include solutions that contribute to their self-sufficiency through commercial activities on their territory, as well as the creation of synergy between public space and commercial objects located nearby or on its territory.
The option of the Dutch architects, who proposed the format of a large park with all types of zones, turned out to be the closest to our requirements.
Was their project the most "Scandinavian"? Why?
All the finalists of the competition were able to somehow include in their works the identity and design elements typical of the Scandinavian countries. But besides style, there are also the values of the Scandinavian way of life - joint family leisure, interest in a healthy lifestyle, love of walking in parks, concern for the environment, and practicality. It is these values that we wanted to reflect in our project so that it contributes to the Scandinavian way of life.
The work of MLA + was distinguished precisely by the thoughtfulness of the development of the territory of the residential area, taking into account the Scandinavian principles of organizing urban open spaces. Their project was the most convincing and complex in terms of creating an image of everyday life and a person's self-awareness.
Were you not embarrassed by the rather high degree of abstraction of the Scandinavian theme: instead of, for example, bronze sculptures "on a given theme" that are popular in many Russian cities and residential complexes, "troll gardens" were proposed there: stones, "nests", structures that are difficult to define at first glance that work well to surprise the residents, but are not endowed with the straightforward realism that Russians are accustomed to. How close was this approach to the company?
The recognizable Scandinavian style and manner of organizing the urban environment have received stable international recognition, and today they are used almost all over the world. But it is not the "bronze sculptures" that are copied and adapted, but the planning and design solutions. The urban environment in the Scandinavian style is simple and straightforward, it is rational, environmentally friendly and very aesthetic.
So, one of the improvement elements in our project, "Troll Gardens", was created as a space for games, socialization and communication. For example, there will be themed routes with unique landscape objects, playful and funny elements that will hardly get boring, unlike the static "bronze sculptures".
Residential complex is, first of all, a large array of houses, the landscape only complements it. To what extent is the "Scandinavian" theme reflected in the architecture of its buildings, facades, maybe layouts?
The architectural concept, public spaces and landscaping were developed taking into account the brand platform of the Scandinavia and White Nights districts. It should be noted that the concept perceives Scandinavian identification in the project not so much at the level of direct figurative cultural associations (landscape, history, fairy tales, etc.), but at the level of the principles of spatial organization of the territory and lifestyle characteristic of Scandinavia, based on social aspects of life, such as Hygge, lagom and sisu.
How seriously does your company take the name embodied in the image of an LCD?
Naming is always concept based. And, of course, we test any name in focus groups, checking, in particular, whether the name on the emotional level will be an additional trigger of interest in the complex, whether it can stimulate the desire to get to know the project.
In the case of Scandinavia, the results of focus groups showed that the name shapes the concept of housing as modern, fashionable, European, thoughtful and environmentally friendly.
It turns out that we managed to convey to the buyers what ideas were incorporated into the concept of the new district.
How do you assess the concept of "design code" of a project - what, in your opinion, should be included there, and what should not be? To what extent is such a legally vague phenomenon as a design code applicable and needed in Russian practice?
Unlike in Europe, the development of an integrated design code for Russian cities is a recent practice. True, some of its elements existed before, and were approved at the city level. For example, the coloristic solution of the facade, the placement of advertising structures, navigation, etc. Only in the last 5-6 years, the development of the design code of cities has reached an integrated level using foreign practice.
In new territories of complex development, the design code solves a variety of issues, first of all, it establishes in what forms and solutions the meanings, principles and values contained in the concept of creating public spaces - a guidebook, are translated into standard improvement solutions in the project. It also contains recommendation solutions for materials, coatings, structures, solutions for typical abutments, equipment, fittings, LFAs, components of the green program, etc.
The design code is necessary to ensure the unity of the meanings and values contained in the guidebook with the design solutions in the project.
For the territory of the new region of Scandinavia, the design code was developed in two sections. The first is called "Identity of the territory", it is the basic concept of design elements that contribute to the creation of identity, individuality, recognizability of the territory, conveying the specifics of the types of public spaces, classes of residential buildings. The identity section contains colors and fonts, textures, patterns: style-forming elements, images and symbols of the territory of urban public spaces by type, options for using the corporate identity of the Scandinavia residential complex.
The second section has its own structure in accordance with the end-to-end concept of dividing the territory into four segments of urban zones with a different balance of priority of the natural and urbanized environment. Each zone has been assigned a corresponding design code for the coatings, plants and equipment used in these zones throughout the project.
Design code has many uses. For example, it is used by planners and designers (architects, navigation designers, project graphic designers, and so on) in order to have at hand a basic set of solutions, equipment and equipment, end-to-end for the entire project. In the process of work, he helps to conduct the selection of analogues in the areas of improvement, the development of a database of potential manufacturers.
