Situation and location

The site is marked by several barriers, e.g. street, the railway lines in the South, the Moscowsky Prospect in the East and in the North the Obvodnij Canal, which connects the Neva River with the Finnish Gulf. Those borderlines or -zones differ very much in terms of size, spatial and functional character, density, quality of buildings and landscape elements. The aim of the workshop is to explain the value and the constraints / restrictions of the barriers and to develop ideas for their transformations. Based on an analysis of the site, ideas have to be worked out for those „bordering zones“, whether they could become linking zones, central areas, how they could connect areas or how to form reasonable spatial „finishing“ of a district.

For the exercise during the workhop every team should select one zoom in.

1) North: Obvodnij Canal

The northern part of the project area is delimited by the Obvodnij Canal, which marks the border to the inner city. Until the 19th century, the canal represented the southern city limit of St. Petersburg. Originally built as a five-mile-long shortcut between the Neva River and the Finnish Gulf, the canal effectively became a sewer during the industrial revolution because it collected wastewater from nearby factories. Today, with the adjacent areas refining its banks, the canal shows great potential for re-development. The original neighborhood along the canal was developed at the end of the 19th century and still retains some typical features of a post-industrial European city. The height of the buildings varies slightly and usually keeps within a five-story range; the function alternates between living, commerce and administration.

2) East: Moscovsky Prospect

One of St. Petersburg's main thoroughfares, the Moscowsky Prospect, demarcates our focus zone in the east. While a key phase of its development occurred during the Stalin era, reflected by the street’s erstwhile name of “Stalina Prospect,” its initial rise to momentary prominence began in the early part of the 18^th century. Moscowsky Prospect has been, since its inception, one of the main roads leading toward Moscow and now connects the city center to its southern suburbs. Nowadays it leads through a very diverse part of the city, and even sides of the street are – despite its importance – quite heterogeneous. Only the very beginning of the axis – which was mostly built in the 19th century and is located before the Obvodnij Canal – presents a more homogeneous picture. Except for some residential neighborhoods, the flanking land is under-developed and offers little quality of stay.

3) South:

After a small zone with garages and small businesses, the vast area containing the southern suburbs marks the third edge of our site. The development of these mostly mono-functional outskirts began in the 1930s. In response to a rising need for affordable housing after World War II, development accelerated dramatically, especially between 1950 and 1970. St. Petersburg is still growing, but the rate of growth slowed when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. By now, the suburbs are well-functioning and well-connected to the city center. Many parks, summer castles and public buildings like the Sportivno-Kontsertnyy-Kompleks attract not only locals but also tourists to this part of the city. Nevertheless, the area still struggles with the typical problems of a mostly mono-functional neighborhood.

4) West: towards the harbour

The section between the harbor and the western edge of our territory is multi-layered in terms of usage, building structure and infrastructure. Until the mid-19th century, it was one of the city's suburbs. It gained in importance when the military and container port transferred to Gutuevsky Island. The construction of postal railways in the 1860s also became an economic incentive that spurred the district's development. Today, there are about 30 industrial enterprises in the district and the commercial port still plays a major role in the city's economy. Besides industrial sites, there are also several institutions of higher education. Wood houses that formerly dominated the area have long been replaced by brick dwelling, but even with its large-scale development there are still many niches and hidden treasures to be found in the area.

6: Barriers, border areas of the territory

Program

1) Mental Map

Based on your very own perception of the area, you should form your own opinion and present it via subjective "reading". Find its specifics! What problems and what potential did you discover? The aim is to find and precisely formulate your own position on which you can later argumentatively build and justify your design proposal. By walking, observing, understanding, collecting (and representing) first impressions you should develop and present your personal “map” of the site” - in the form of photographs, drawings, interviews, films, ...

2) Scenarios

The aim is to formulate first conceptual ideas and hypotheses for urban redevelopment of our specific “borderline area”. You should reflect the current situation and formulate the first possible and impossible solutions and proposals how to deal with it. How would the future of this area and its surrounding look like or, how should it not look like at all? Evolve and develop an appropriate form of an understandable representation of your ideas and conceptual approaches. This fast working method should lead to a collection of new, provocative, impossible, but on the other hand also feasible projects and provoke thus further discussion on different levels between various actors.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 464