The idea of the "sea facade" of St. Petersburg on the alluvial territories in terms of its ambitiousness is related to the tower of the Lakhta Center: the tallest skyscraper in Europe will not appear here, but it is "the largest project in education and integrated development of the territory", "visiting card" and "face of the city", which he presents to those arriving from the water. The new lands will increase the area of Vasilyevsky Island by about a quarter: a total of 450 hectares are planned, of which about 170 have already been reclaimed along the Morskaya embankment.
In 2006, the Gensler company developed a master plan for the reclamation, according to which the northern part in the form of an island was supposed to be a business one, similar to Manhattan or Shanghai - with superdense buildings and peaks up to 200-300 meters, while the southern part was occupied by residential areas. In 2014, the plan for the alluvial areas was approved by the Soyuz-55 company under the leadership of Alexander Viktorov. He made serious adjustments to the plan of Gensler: the island merged with the mainland, buildings sharply decreased in height and became residential. The PPT, which has the force of law, also determined the composition of the development of blocks in the southern part of the alluvium - with buildings around the perimeter, kindergartens and schools in the middle of the blocks. In the Gensler master plan, the apartment buildings faced the water, making the neighborhoods blown through by winds from the bay.
The development of alluvial lands began with the construction of transport infrastructure. The first to appear here was a sea passenger port capable of receiving cruise liners of any size. Then, between the mainland and the alluvial territories, the WHSD highway ran, to the west of which the first stage of the Ya Romantic residential complex was built. It was also crossed by the WHSD highway. In 2015, a large international competition was held for the concept of development of territories near the harbor of the port, which was won by the Dutch KCAP Holding B. V. & Orange and the A. Len bureau with the Golden City project. Behind it, the development of the rest of the embankment will be continued by a large-scale residential complex under the Studio-44 project.
At the City Council Nikita Yavein said that the planning project left almost no maneuver for design. Considering other constraints, from the required square meters to strong winds from the bay and the approved linear development concept, the studio came up with a special configuration of buildings. The microdistrict will consist of four layers, with its structure resembling hills of sand under water, or, in fact, alluvial - as if each line appeared after a wave run. Closer to the city there is a “boulevard front”, followed by a courtyard area with schools and kindergartens. The third line is a "dotted line" of towers and plates in the form of "checkmarks" and "lenses" free standing in the park, which becomes the last, fourth line.
It should be said that the park might not have happened, since in the planning project of the territory there was a highway along the coast. When the site was bought by LSR Group, it proposed a “new Vasileostrovskaya line” - a park line, and Studio-44 was able to translate this into a project by redistributing traffic flows. A separate competition was held for the concept of landscaping the coastal strip, the first place in which was also awarded to "Studios-44".
The park is about two kilometers long, its width varies from 40 to 150 meters, and the total area is slightly more than 11 hectares. In the interpretation of Studio-44, the park turned out not to be landscape, like most of the participants in the competition, who associated the place with the dunes and pines of the Kurortny District, but rather “urban”. Once upon a time, granite embankments turned a piece of swampy land into something opposed to nature, the same here, only on an artificially created land it is even more appropriate to speak in the language of straight lines and reasonable functions. Nature here is a landscape design; it only complements and decorates the public space.
To describe the park very briefly, it is a kind of enfilade of ten squares strung along pedestrian and bicycle routes. Each belongs to one house - to some extent this is his yard, the squares are even outlined on the opposite side by a line reflecting the shape of the buildings: arched or triangular, emphasizing belonging to a particular house. In many cases, these lines form small "balconies" above the water, a sign of the expansion of the architectural form beyond the coastline. But, on the other hand, all squares-courtyards are open to water and strung on a common axis. And each has its own special design, function, mood and plot. Going through the entire string, you can collect impressions or choose a space that suits you today. “Moving through this chain of different types and types of gardens lined along the coast, it’s like moving from one world to another,” says Nikita Yavein.
The idea of a linear park is not new, on the contrary, it is now very popular, as it is suitable for the boulevard and, as in this case, for the embankment. The change of impressions and the variety of green "rooms" within the same landscape are also practically classics, necessary for liveliness of perception, although they often arise historically, for example, with the joining of an English-style park to a French one. Botanical gardens are built on the alternation of fragments of different nature. Yet rarely are landscape structures, even linear ones, organized in such a dense and long-lasting sequence. The variant proposed by Studio 44 is perhaps unique not only for St. Petersburg, but also, perhaps, for world practice. Most likely, this is the result of a hybrid of a series of courtyards and a linear embankment park that emerged here.
In the sections between the four quarters of the residential complex, there are three squares, placing accents. In the very center, along the axis of Nakhimov Street, there is a large Yarmarkaya Square with a pond-"Havanets". This is a place for meetings, celebrations, festivities, festivals, market days. The architects dream that small boats will come here, from which guests of the park will be able to buy freshly caught fish. Closer to Golden City will be Sports Square, and on the opposite southern side it is proposed to make Cathedral Square: now the nearest church, the Church of the Merciful Icon of the Mother of God, is located about four kilometers from the alluvium.
Since the park is gaining width towards the center, it is here that the most noisy and active zones are concentrated: playgrounds for various sports, a children's playground and a playground for playing with animals. Behind the Sports Square it will be possible to practice "quiet" sports such as yoga, gymnastics or petanque, as well as to take care of the vegetable garden. Behind Cathedral Square there will be a chess court and a sports ground for people with disabilities. It is also worth noting that the entire territory of the park is barrier-free; all of it can be traveled on wheels without interference.
Several hiking and cycling routes pass through all sites: you can choose the shortest one, you can walk along the water or zip along park paths. The trellis between the parterres of themed squares make the walk even richer. They mirror "point-towers" and represent platforms with colonnades, into which various modules can be built - cafes, rental points, toilets. Also, the first floors of residential buildings were given to retail, along which another, "courtyard" route has been laid. Trees will be planted tightly between the trellises and the towers, whose task is to break the wind streams. At the same points it will be possible to descend to the water.
The future park has a restrained relationship with water. For example, Peterhof, on which the alluvial bank looks right across the bay, is famous for fountains and water crackers. The new urban space "Sevkabel Port" plays up the marine theme with all kinds of lighthouses, decks and portholes. The park of the 300th anniversary overlooks the water with a large strip of beach. The Park "Studio-44" treats the elements with respect and caution: the banks are powerfully fortified with granite, circular bridges, even if you can ride a bike over the water under it, they still do not let walkers go too far, the slopes to the water are limited, and the beach is for purely technical reasons, it is possible to do only a small section. However, some of the "isolation" of the park in relation to water is explained primarily by pragmatic considerations: on the one hand, this part of the alluvial territories is hit by both sea waves and spring ice floes. On the other hand, the competition regulations provided for work exclusively with the territory on land, since federal property begins behind the surf line. At the same time, a long promenade with a sea breeze and wide views of the water and sunsets, protruding into the water area from the quay and promenade piers, somewhat corrects the situation.
If you try to classify the resulting park, then this is not exactly a walking garden, and not an educational one, like the Summer one, and not a natural installation of Zaryadye. At the same time, he took a little bit from his predecessors: here and there are pieces of "paradise", and a regular structure, and a "pharmaceutical" garden. The ideas of other projects of Studio-44 itself are being developed. For example, a linear park, laid along the line of a railway line, is being implemented in the Galaktika residential complex, and the project of the Embankment of Europe also had squares and havanese.
Most of all, I would like to call the Park alluvium a public space, since everything here is conceived so that all sorts of people descend from their high floors, go out into the street, find something to their liking and even - what a rare experience for our time - get acquainted. Here forgotten scenarios seem possible, in which schoolchildren walk in flocks, people go out to exercise after dinner, grandfather teaches his grandson to fish, and grandmother teaches the garden beds. Or even more ancient - in the market square, housewives are bargaining for fat bream and fragrant smelt. In this sense, the park really makes the alluvial lands new, since there is no such space - a large-scale quality environment next to a multi-storey microdistrict - in the city yet.
The park will become part of the future green frame of Vasilievsky Island, and it is predicted that up to ten thousand people will visit it on a day off. The entire complex is planned to be completed by 2028.
