St. Petersburg students presented projects to improve Vasilyevsky Island European Street Design Challenge (ESDC), the Europe's largest contest in the field of urbanism and urban issues solution, ended in St. Petersburg on the 21 of May.This year the contest was launched for the sixth time in Europe and was held in St. Petersburg for the first time. The ESDC is a new approach to solving urban problems. Its goal is the creation of innovative and creative solutions for uniting the urban communities. The European Street Design Challenge was held during three days from 19 to 21 May at the site of the ITMO University Design and Urbanism Institute in cooperation with experts and local people from the eastern part of Vasilyevsky Island within the framework of the first St. Petersburg forum of spatial development Harmony of Versatility.
Andrew Bullen and Jeanine Hayzengi, the invited foreign urbanism-experts, the experts in the field of digital media and design, the co-founders of the Creative Cooperative company, during the three days were helping the contestants with the area research, brainstorming and with the development of projects of the Vasilyevsky Island eastern part development.
Among the competition participants there were six teams of students from the city universities: urbanists from ITMO University, architects from the Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, area designers from the St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design, environment designers from the St. Petersburg State Art and Industry Academy, landscape specialists from the St. Petersburg State Forestry University; also, there were individual participants combined into teams: architects, transport specialists and a specialist in international relations or areas marketing.
Participants were challenged to develop innovative (smart) solutions for the urban community using open interdisciplinary methods, digital tools and prototyping.
Teams work took place in an open space of the ITMO University building where visitors and experts had the opportunity to visit the participants and communicate with them, to observe the process of their work.
The final presentations were assessed by an expert jury headed by Andrew Bullen and Jeanine Hayzengi.
There were six projects. It is worth noting that almost all of them had ideas for the island landscaping.
The SPSUACE team's KIWI project idea is about the creating of temporary structures, mobile constructions on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and near the bridge not far from the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange which will allow the pedestrians and cyclists to get to the Spit directly. It is also planned to organize the lines of green corridors, which could go to the western part of the island. Temporary structures include: hinged boardwalk over the water, an amphitheater with a stage and a canopy, eco-cubes with different functional content. This will allow considering this area as a place with new resource and opportunities for both residents and tourists.
The SPSUTD team, the Spirit of ESDC award winners for the creative approach, proposed to focus on the parking and transport traffic transfer under the land and water, as well as on the creating of additional green areas on the island. The project offers a new infrastructure concept of Vasilyevsky Island, moving the transit of private vehicles out from the city center. The historical and natural landscapes, such as the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, bridges and embankments of the Neva, are given new life without cars. The students’ proposal envisages the creation of automated underground car parks covered with pedestrian spaces which certainly requires a lot of investment.
Second place went to the Spider project of ITMO University urbanists team, Moscow architects and transport expert. Its main idea is to create points of attraction on the Spit, and with the help of greenery, water or light form the interactive transitions between them. Postcard views of the island will remain unchanged, but the courtyards and streets inside the study area will be transformed. Social areas for relax and joint activities will be organized there, as well as the stops for tourists and citizens, spaces for students and locals.
The St. Petersburg State Art and Industry Academy team became the contest winner. Proposals in their ReForm project are based on actual field studies.
"Before we started thinking about the Vasilyevsky Island redesign concept we analyzed the area, talked with local residents. From this, we have identified one of the main problems - the absence of a transit pedestrian area. To solve it, we have offered to open yards. Due to this there will be through passes that will facilitate and shorten the travelling time. But yards are unaesthetic, and cars’ lumbering creates problems on the roads, and in the pedestrian areas. With the development of internal movement of public transport this problem can be solved, but we do not want to block roads though such proposals were among the contest participants. As a result, after we thoroughly investigated the yards, we realized that that graphics which surrounds us sets the style of the appearance so one needs to just continue developing the things we already have. This is our time, and we cannot ignore it," the team members say.
The results of the competition and the students proposals were presented at the first St. Petersburg forum of spatial development Harmony of Versatility.