Our starting point was an appreciation of the natural fundamentals, of Forest and Water which are common place in Veronezh. The city is surrounded by Forest and Water and we questioned how these fundamental elements are experienced by people day to day. The ‘sea’ is separated from the city by infrastructure such as highways and the forest, despite its proximity to the city, it is generally experienced on trips to the countryside. Our proposal made water and forest integral to Voronezh Central Park so that residents could experience these elements through play, recreation and food.
The Russian dacha is more than just a country house, in fact it’s a very complicated cultural phenomenon. For the people who own dachas, they and their children can escape the city and experience the countryside and for some it’s a place to grow vegetables. Veronezh Park’s woodland setting is an opportunity to create many of those experiences of the dacha without driving for hours every weekend.
Veronezh Central Park is also an opportunity to celebrate the agriculture of the black soil region and show case the wonderful agricultural abundance of this region. This was achieved by introducing a new woodland restaurant as a destination in the park and growing or harvesting the food for the restaurant from the park.
The park has seasonal surface water run off which currently floods the lower park and we proposed a new water system on site, a series of lakes which will become the focus of water based play, sport and recreation. The lake will be a beautiful backdrop to festivals such as the annual garden festival and will also become a focus for new ecology and activity.
Our proposals also recognised the different opportunities presented by routes that run along the contour and weave through the forest as recreational paths and new footpaths which we have proposed to cut across the contour, providing connectivity and making the park a route to school, a route to visit friends or a quick route to the bus stop, integrating walking and cycling into residents every day activities and making Veronezh Central park a focus of these green routes around the city.
2018–2018
Voronezh, Russia
Client
Urban Institute
Value
£n/a