Petrovskaya embankment in Voronezh: finalists revealed
On October 15, the Voronezh Region Architecture and Urban Planning Department hosted a meeting where the judging panel chose the finalists of the Open All-Russian Architectural and Urban Planning Competition to elaborate a concept for the development of Petrovskaya Embankment in Voronezh.
The competition is being co-curated by the local governor, the Voronezh Region Government, and the Administration of the City District of the city of Voronezh. It was commissioned by the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Voronezh Region and is being organized by the Agency for Strategic Development CENTER.
During the first stage of the competition, professional organizations specializing in urban planning, architecture, project design, and public space creation and development submitted their applications, which included portfolios and essays. A total of 69 participants from 22 cities registered to participate in the competition. Apart from Russian companies, some of the consortiums applying for the competition included companies from 4 foreign countries: Belarus, Italy, Latvia, and the Netherlands.
The competition’s organizing committee received duly completed applications from 29 participants, or 47 companies: 20 applied individually, and 27 applied as 9 consortiums. The right to move on to the final stage of the competition and design the new Petrovskaya Embankment was contested by teams from 14 cities in Russia and beyond: Voronezh, Amsterdam, Kazan, Moscow, Murmansk, Novosibirsk, Pesaro, Riga, Rostov-on-Don, Rotterdam, St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, and Yaroslavl.
The selection of finalists had two stages. On October 14, before the judging panel meeting, an expert panel (including members of the local community with experience in architecture, business, cultural heritage, public space design, and education) discussed the applications and voiced their short list recommendations.
Andrey YerenkovHead of the Voronezh Region Architecture and Urban Planning Department
We find it very important for the entire competition process, including finalist selection, to be professional from start to finish. Our department had a very lively, dynamic, and rather long expert panel meeting yesterday. We considered all competition applications. Our experts tried their best to form an opinion on what they were given in order to help the judges make as well-reasoned a decision as possible today. Frankly, I believe that this meeting is as crucial as the final stage, if not more so, because it’s at this point that we can’t afford to make any mistakes regarding the skill and competence level of the competitors, who will present their final work to the judges and the governor in December.
The judging panel’s meeting took place today. After the application evaluation and expert opinion review, the judges voted and chose 3 finalists. They are:
- Consortium led by WOWHAUS, consortium member: TOU (Voronezh);
- Consortium led by MLA+, consortium members: INSIGHT (Voronezh), OTSLab (St. Petersburg), KnightFrank (St. Petersburg);
- Consortium led by the Praktika Architectural Bureau, consortium member: MARCH Lab (Moscow).
Sergei GeorgievskiiCEO, Agency for Strategic Development CENTER
The winning teams have the potential and the opportunity to present a high-quality, well-designed project soon. We’re keeping the competition as open and transparent as possible, ensuring compliance with all international principles. The city of Voronezh will be given three suggestions and will choose one to improve its cityscape.
During the second stage of the competition, the finalists will need to propose a concept that will help turn the embankment section between Chernavsky and Vogresovsky Bridge into a symbolic space for the local community, while reflecting the mission of Voronezh as a city with a high quality of life, remaining recognizable even to non-locals, and forming part of the city’s image.
The winner will be chosen at the December 10 meeting of the judging panel headed by Alexander Gusev, Governor of the Voronezh Region.
Official website https://petrovbereg.ru