Vogt and Herzog & de Meuron. Second place
With participation: international company ARUP
The elegant and Petersburg-style restrained concept of the Swiss team is inspired by the word "Buyan" - "a fabulous island with a nonexistent landscape." The method by which the architects create the outline of the valley of the new park vaguely resembles restoration: the new outline is formed from the superposition of all known topographic images of this place. The result is a picturesque and to some extent historical landscape, which at the same time never existed - a fabulous brawler. The glass tower of the greenhouse, which will be discussed further, is another image of a fabulous city that grows out of the landscape, like a mirage.
The architects have divided the park into three zones with different types of landscape. Along Dobrolyubov Avenue stretches "Lesnoy Massif", creating a comfortable border between the park and the city.
Most of it is occupied by the "Valley" - a site with a low relief and landscapes, inspired by the idyllic mood of paintings by Ivan Shishkin and Isaac Levitan. The Boris Eifman Dance Palace is surrounded by spacious meadows intended for public events. At the base of the valley, between the embankment and the Palace of Dance, there is a small lake, the water level in which depends on the amount of precipitation. This lake is a kind of square that unites the main points of attraction of the park - the greenhouse, the amphitheater, the entrance to the underground space and the food market.
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zooming 1/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
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zooming 2/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
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zooming 3/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
The “Upper Plateau” is a large green “blanket” that covers the foundation slab of the now-sunken Judicial District. It is located closer to the embankment and is a group of mounds covered with meadow grasses and small groves. This is a place for quiet walks, picnics, from here you can admire the views of the Neva and the historical part of the city.
Under the hills, in three main underground spaces, called "hypostyle halls", the entire infrastructure is located: a multifunctional pavilion, a food court, an information center, a cafe and a plant nursery. Considering the foundation slab as a powerful modern ruin, the architects used traces of previous structures and pile reinforcements to create a grid for additional Jules Verne rooms.
The main attraction of this concept, the greenhouse, is also connected to the underground space. This is the most spectacular and, perhaps, the most controversial part of the project - the sculptural glass dominant, the coordination of which in the heart of St. Petersburg is difficult to imagine, even if its height does not exceed 35 meters of the neighboring Palace of Dance. The observation deck located under its dome promises both breathtaking views and crowds of people who want to see them.
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zooming 1/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
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zooming 2/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
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zooming 3/3 Buyan on the Neva. Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park © Vogt, Herzog & de Meuron, Arup Associates
"Needle" and KARAVAN landskapsarkitekter. Third place
Starring: Dreamers United, EDGE AB, transport infrastructure specialist Alexander Devyatkin, botanist John Lööf Green
“More than just a landscape” is the name of a concept proposed by a team of “young professionals” who took third place. "Needle", just like Herzog & de Meuron, sought to reflect in the project all stages of the landscape "anomaly" in the city center, constantly changing the ratio of land and water. The structure is also similar: the park frames the buffer of the “city forest”, the “meadow hills” near the theater become viewing platforms, and in the central part is occupied by a lowland with “flowering swamps”. The general mood is as different as ice and fire.
Tuchkov Buyan, interpreted by the Khvoya bureau, is a “mystical” place with lush and varied vegetation, its main goal is “to take a fresh look at the city, inspire, calm and tell the story of the future Northern Palmyra”.
The vitality and incredibly charming hedonism also breaks through the solemnity of this task. So, the authors explain many decisions with the help of gastronomic parallels. The entire park, for example, is compared to a mille-feuille cake, each layer of which is a tribute to a particular type of landscape art. The lower park is classic, reminiscent of Pavlovsk, but with its own genius loci - the swamp on which St. Petersburg was built. An attempt to present the place before the arrival of Peter. The middle park is a city forest with features of a regular garden, a granite embankment and observation platforms that offer views of the city's main attractions in an unusual green frame. The Upper Park on the tops of the hills, colorful and forbs, hiding the underground infrastructure is an attempt to look into the future. This is another place from where the city appears like no one has seen it before. All three parks evoke curiosity and a desire to stay, note - only due to landscape solutions.
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zooming 1/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 2/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 3/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 4/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 5/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 6/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 7/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 8/8 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
The combination of flora typical of the Leningrad region with plants from Europe, Asia and North America is compared to good cooking, which is based on high-quality local products, and unusual spices and drinks allow you to play and add variety. Plants from other regions lengthen the flowering season, give more color and texture. Artificial explosions of color and scent serve as a counterpoint to the serene northern beauty of hills, forests and wetlands. “Natural plantings are like wine: they reduce stress and make you relax. Whereas gardening acts like coffee - a stimulus for all senses with an aroma, color and texture that both humans and pollinators love,”the architects explain.
The enjoyment of life continues outside the park: on the territory of the Yubileiny sports complex, the authors propose to place a gastronomic market with greenhouses and pop-up projects of young chefs, next to the Petrovsky stadium - thermal baths open all year round, and the Hemp warehouses are turning into an educational campus - an interesting educational the process can certainly also be attributed to pleasure.
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zooming 1/6 Transport and pedestrian routs scheme. More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 2/6 Assembly drawings. More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 3/6 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 4/6 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 5/6 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
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zooming 6/6 More than just a landscape. Landscape and architectural concept of the park "Tuchkov Buyan" © Khvoya, KARAVAN, Dreamers United
The public functions of the park are not hidden underground: along the valley there is an information center, a restaurant, a wine bar - a reference to the wine warehouses of Vatny Island, an amphitheater with a stage, a multifunctional pavilion and the main greenhouse. Underground spaces are given to technical rooms. All pavilions, including exits from the underground parking, are greenhouses and form an alternative route that replaces the visit to the main greenhouse.
We made it to the final of this competition for a quota of young but talented architects, and this is the first full-fledged park designed by our bureau. So we are, of course, happy with the result - third place is not a bad place to start.
We love competitions, including for the opportunity to compare our strengths and direction of thought with other participants, and we are pleased to see a lot in common in the approach to designing Tuchkov Buyan with the rest of the finalists and prize-winners, especially with the concept of Vogt, whose work made a great impression on us.
This is not the first time we have been working on a competition with the Dreamers United team (Alexei Onatsko, Daria Tabachnikova, Katya Zubkova and everyone, everyone, everyone) - we have an established creative tandem, but such an extensive team, including transport workers, light specialists, botanists, landscape planners, designers and visualizers were collected for the first time - this is also a new experience for us.
And of course, we were lucky with the quarantine and the postponement - additional time for design in our case was simply necessary.
A cloudy brawler is a difficult territory. This is a topographic anomaly with a rich past, a terra incognita in the very center of St. Petersburg, and a complex concrete heritage of ship projects. Unleashing these contradictions, inheriting the history of the place and creating a modern park in the center of the city on oddly shaped concrete foundations was a challenging and interesting task.
Our fantasy view park, combining history and future, delicately fills the white spot in the center of the city, leaving the void necessary to see the city anew.
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