Landscape and architectural concept of Tuchkov Buyan Park

Authors:

Studio 44 Architects:

Nikita Yawein, Evgeny Novosadyuk, Alena Amelkovich, Vera Burmistrova, Elena Krishtopchik, Andrey Patrikeev, Ilya Grigoriev, Anna Kuznetsova, Margarita Fomina, Boris Nemtsev, Olga Kabaeva, Anton Yar-Skryabin, Lyudmila Likhacheva, Pavel Blinov, Andrey Gres, Andrey Karsakov, Alexander Zagarskikh, Sergey Bogdanov, Gennady Shelukhin

WEST 8:

Adriaan Geuse, Edzo Bindels, Inna Tsoraeva, Emanuel Paladin, Laura Font Galard, Nazar Dutko, Harm te Velde, Dilbar Sharipova, Pieter Rier, Christian Dobrick, Ronald van Nugteren, Zilia Mingazova, Aditiya Eleni, Andrey Kochetkov, Nikolay Berzuk, Kristina Shreter, Tamara Pavlova, Alexander Leontiev, Tiasiya Volftrub

TUCHKOV PARK OF FULL SAIL ROMANCE

The philosophy of the Tuchkov Park is close to the Romantic concept: it is a park for finding solitude in nature and contemplating the views. It is a park that ‘communicates moods’ (D. S. Likhachev).

The composition of the park is a landscape with an artificial relief. The middle part of the park, from Boris Eifman Dance Palace to Academic Likhachev Square, has been shaped by the 6–8-meter-high rolling hills. These belvedere hills open up a view of ‘the faraway’: from here, the residents of St. Petersburg will re-discover the city they know so well.

The shape of the hills has been designed to showcase the city’s main dominant points from the square in front of the theatre entrance. The views from the bridges that span the dells and connect higher relief points will be no less thrilling. Wooden bridges commemorate the names of architects who created the masterpieces seen from the bridges: Thoma de Thomon Bridge (the Spit of Vasilievsky Island), Auguste de Montferrand Bridge (St. Isaac’s Cathedral), Alfred Parland Bridge (Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood). The stone bridge connecting the embankment and Boris Eifman Dance Palace has been named after Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russe company and the Russian Seasons in Paris. The concept includes a detailed system of routes over the hills and bridges to enjoy the views, making St. Petersburg’s city centre and its landmarks the main focus in the park’s scenography. 

The hills also play an important role in the park’s zoning: they create autonomous visual basins and secluded spaces by providing a picturesque and natural barrier to the city noise and rush. Various entertainment, service, and catering facilities have been hidden in the grottoes inside the hills, thus preserving the integrity of the green landscape. The grottoes have waterproof roofs covered with a 2-meter soil layer, which is sufficient to grow a real forest: coniferous trees on the northern slopes and deciduous trees on the southern slopes. 

The hills step aside and form convenient passageways from Dobrolyubova Avenue to the embankment. The Green Wave, a serpentine promenade, has been designed to create a series of viewpoints as you move along, multiply the number of available views of the water and opposite bank, and provide an infinite variety of sunset and sunrise experiences. The bends of the Green Wave form panoramic amphitheatres that allow visitors to come close to the water. The largest amphitheatre in the south-west of the park resolves St. Petersburg’s classic ‘antithesis of water and stone’ (Yu. M. Lotman) and serves as a seating area for summertime performances on the Malaya Neva floating stage.

The new underground pedestrian crossing under Birzhevoy Bridge connects the Green Wave with Mytninskaya and Kronverkskaya Embankments and creates the shortest possible link between the new park and Peter and Paul Fortress, thus firmly inserting the park into the system of the main tourist routes. The landscaped curves of the Green Wave are juxtaposed with the classical clipped-tree-lined boulevard along Dobrolyubova Avenue. Visually penetrable, it feels more like a buffer zone between the city blocks and the landscape park than a boundary.

The part of Speranskogo Street between Malaya Neva Embankment and the Conservatory to the west of the park has been turned into a pedestrian area. This way the area adjacent to the Yubileiny Complex will be integrated into the park. From the north-west, the park can be accessed via an underground crossing under Bolshoy Avenue P. S. A floating bridge over the Zhdanovka River will stretch the park route into Petrovsky Island and bring together the two parks, now separated by heavy traffic.

The squares by Boris Eifman Dance Palace (Theatre Square) and the Conservatory (Conservatory Square) are the park's two key public spaces. The Theatre Square is surrounded by a system of amphitheatres built into the hill slope and functions as an open-air auditorium. The Conservatory Square will be home to exotic plants in the summer. As the weather gets colder, they will be moved back into the Conservatory building. In winter, the square itself will turn into a skating rink or Christmas fair. The glass cubes of the Conservatory will not only house a collection of exotic plants, but also serve as a restaurant. The Conservatory Square gradually flows into a large children’s playground and an amphitheatre facing the river, thus becoming the main attraction focus that draws the whole park together.

The hills make it possible to separate more vigorous activities on the squares from quieter relaxation in the rest of the park. Our concept is based on multiagent models that include a variety of event scenarios to provide a comfortable pastime for different types of users and ensure a consistent and even load on the park’s ecosystem. According to our research, the number of visitors per day will vary according to season, with 30000 visitors per day in the summer, 12000 visitors per day in the winter, and 15000 visitors per day in the fall and spring. During all seasons and event scenarios, the maximum density never goes above 3 persons per square meter, which confirms that the visit to the park and its most crowded spaces will be comfortable at all times.