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Yakutsk badly needs year-round public spaces. The Park for Future Generations should set the standards for the development of new public spaces in the Republic, meet all the demands of people living in these extreme natural and climatic conditions, and reflect our national identity and “Northern” flavor. The ATRIUM/Vostok+ consortium’s design is nice, creative, and it applies advanced technology. It is very important that it takes into account our identity, the distinctive culture of Yakutia, and the peculiarities of life in the Arctic.

Prior to making the decision to hold the competition, we set an ambitious goal: the Park for Future Generations should become a model, for Russia as a whole, of the creation of a special environment reflecting the links between the previous, present, and future generations in severe climate conditions. The competition fully contributed to the achievement of that result. The finalists did a big job, in the course of which they shared their experience, collaborated, and made new connections with architects throughout Russia.

My first degree is in history, and I was greatly impressed emotionally by the design of the Timur Bashkaev Architectural Bureau, in which I found signals and symbols I understand, as there is no future without history. Of course, the art object from the Time Keepers design remains with me. The ATRIUM/Vostok+ consortium’s design stood out to me for its blue-sky thinking and creation of memorable images.

It was an open and fully transparent competition. This is a very rare, I would even say, unheard-of case for the Russian practice of competition holding to broadcast absolutely everything live uncut, with no closed doors. We appreciate it greatly that the Republic of Sakha accepted such transparency. We believe that the competition will serve as a model for future Russian and international architectural and urban development competitions.