Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking, Russian Architecture Images

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow Landscape Design

8 July 2020

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow News

Co-Designers: SWA/Balsley and 5+design

Location: Moscow, Russia

Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

SWA/Balsley Designs Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow

A Model of Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

Located at Moscows’s historic train station, the project is poised to become the city’s next great urban park and public attraction.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow by SWA/Balsley and 5+design

Renderings courtesy SWA/Balsley and 5+design

New York, NY (July 7, 2020) — Prominently located at the front door of Moscow’s historic train station, the new Paveletskaya Plaza is poised to become the city’s next great urban park and public attraction. The innovative design collaboration by SWA/Balsley and 5+design won an invited international competition with a harmonious fusion of urban park with below-grade retail creating a new civic destination that will spark the public’s landscape imagination of 21st century city life in downtown Moscow.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow by SWA/Balsley and 5+design

When built in 1900 by Russian architect Alexander Krasovsky, the historic Paveletsky railway station fulfilled a grand vision of connecting Russia’s Pavelets, or surrounding suburbs, to Moscow. It welcomed travelers into ornate interior concourses and a grand hall, and faced onto a garden square situated directly in front of the station. Over time, a new road bifurcated the park and siloed the iconic station from its surroundings.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow landscape design Russia

The design reestablishes this lost connection between the historic station and the ring road. Working within strict height limitations and view corridor regulations, the carefully sculpted park grades ensure a visual balance between the station and the iconic retail entrances. In addition, vehicular access on the northwest road will be limited, which will reclaim the pedestrian connection between the station and the plaza.

Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

This remarkable park space features two iconic retail pavilion entrances that seem to emerge from the carefully sculpted parkscape; blurring the lines between public life at the central plaza and retail below. Open views from the street are preserved with sculpted landscape and lawn “shelves” that softly descend to a plaza teeming with urban life, restaurants, retail entrances, and activity throughout the seasons. The lawn terraces and their companion sculptural overlooks provide a wide range of opportunities for viewing casual daily activity or events.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow landscape design Russia

Long-term success for the park is tied to the robust public metro and transit activity as well as the carefully programmed and designed park venues that accommodate events of all types and sizes. The multi-purpose and flexible central plaza is designed to host performance fountain, stage, and ice rink is joined with an array of spaces and elements that foster a vibrant rhythm of urban life throughout the day, evenings, and seasons.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow landscape design Russia

As the retail center is located primarily below-grade, the retail entrance pavilions are raised above ground to maintain a constant dialogue with the station and the park above. An iconic glass entrance canopy at the park’s east side is edged with landscape that extends from the park into the interior retail court below.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow by SWA/Balsley and 5+design

To the west, a level change exposes a second entrance, nestled below a green lawn extending over its canopy. Here, a birch soffit cradles the cantilevering lawn and extends inside the arrival hall. Once inside, a mid-level landing provides dramatic views of restaurants across the atrium and multi-level food hall below.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow landscape design Russia

The retail entrances are linked by two strands of lightwells at the plaza level that are integrated with planting, seating and sculpture. These lightwells allow daylight into the shopping interiors, and cast light up from the concourses at night, creating an exchange of illumination between the park and the retail below. A harmonious fusion of urban park and below-grade retail forum, the project will be a new civic destination that will spark the public’s landscape imagination of 21st century city life/

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow by SWA/Balsley and 5+design

A Crescent Promenade connects the two retail pavilions and serves as an organizing armature for garden rooms, adult play lawns, and overlook plazas with sculptural follies. Verdant urban “forests” of tightly spaced native fir and birch trees make up the west and east flanks of the park through which narrow bench-lined paths and silent gardens have been carved.

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow by SWA/Balsley and 5+design

The design team was intent upon creating a unique “place” where a day-in-the-park can pause for shopping and a family shopping expedition is relieved with a dose of nature and public life for all ages.

Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

Paveletskaya Plaza is a model of landscape urbanism and the unexpected benefits that can emerge from a borderless collaboration of park design disciplines and architecture.

Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

About SWA/BALSLEY

SWA/Balsley creates inspiring, provocative, resilient public spaces that enhance communities and enrich people’s lives. The places they create reflect their deep commitment to design excellence, and their belief that landscape architecture plays an instrumental role in forging a culture that connects people with places…and with each other.

Paveletskaya Plaza in Moscow Landscape Urbanism and Placemaking

The landscape architects, planners and urban designers hail from two internationally renowned firms—SWA Group and Thomas Balsley Associates, which joined together in 2016 to practice from New York City.  SWA/Balsley’s projects range from large-scale master plans to small urban spaces; from urban waterfronts and major parks to institutional, residential, and corporate landscapes.  Learn more at https://www.swabalsley.com/

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow landscape design Russia

Paveletskaya Plaza Moscow Landscape Design information / images received 070720

Location: Moscow, Russia

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