The Cushman & Wakefield international consortium, which also includes Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Buro Happold and Rider Levett Bucknall has been selected as the winner of the contest, which was organised by the Russia Geographic Society and Moscow Region Government.
Gillespies was design team leader, masterplanner and landscape architect for the winning design for Park Russia, an ambitious project to transform 1,000 hectares of land near Domodedovo airport, 30km south of Moscow, into a tourist attraction.
The consortium’s winning proposals provided the jury with a masterplan and business strategy showing three main zones of the park and opportunities for investment in leisure projects for day visitors, and in the development of a ‘strong tourism resort destination’ for residential visitors.
The business strategy defines a 12-year investment period, funded principally by the private sector. The development is to have strong green building credentials, says Cushman & Wakefield, and intends to optimise rail access from Moscow and Domodedovo to cope with the large numbers of annual visitors ranging up to a potential 10 million per annum.
Russian cultural experts NEBA directed the cultural and heritage programme of the proposals. Gillespies’ partner Jim Diggle, who led the design team, says Park Russia has been designed to be delivered flexibly over many years. ‘It will be an unforgettable destination based on multiple and complimentary attractions, offering layers of interest with fun and learning experiences for all.’
Gillespies’ masterplan celebrates the country’s unique history, cultural legacy and future, he says, adding: ‘Park Russia embraces innovative sustainable design, with best practice green principles enshrined in the masterplan and major constituent design components such as buildings, landscape and supporting infrastructure.’
Project leader Richard Tibbott, from Cushman & Wakefield Russia, describes the scheme as ‘a uniquely Russian leisure park responding to Russian consumer desires for imaginative leisure and cultural development and creating a major new destination for the rapidly growing Russian visitor economy’. It will, he adds, ‘be a credible comparator to Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay and eventually to the parks at Orlando, Florida’.
