© Photography by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro
For 40 years, the Hotel Rossiya, a 3,000-room concrete monstrosity, stood on the site of the former historical urban district of Zaryadye near Red Square and the Kremlin. After the hotel was demolished in 2006, various proposals were made, and a fixed deadline was even announced for the start of construction of a new quarter with offices, shops, hotels and cultural facilities to plans drawn up by Sir Norman Foster.
Nothing came of these proposals, however, and the way was finally free for the creation of the first public park in Moscow for 50 years. Green light was given for the ten-hectare Zaryadye Park in 2013, after the team about Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the landscape architects Hargreaves Associates, the multidisciplinary planning office Citymakers and the air-conditioning engineers Transsolar had won the competition.
Nothing came of these proposals, however, and the way was finally free for the creation of the first public park in Moscow for 50 years. Green light was given for the ten-hectare Zaryadye Park in 2013, after the team about Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the landscape architects Hargreaves Associates, the multidisciplinary planning office Citymakers and the air-conditioning engineers Transsolar had won the competition.