For Yekaterinburg’s bid book for the right to host the World Universal Exhibition "Expo-2020", ABD Architects developed a concept of arranging the exhibition facilities.
Written by: Tatiana Shovskaya Translated by: Anton Mizonov
Project Team:
Leader of the author collective, general director of OOO "ABD" - B.Levyant; deputy director on design – B.Stuchebryukov; director on project management – A.Korzenkova; chief architect of the project – A.Feoktistova; leader architect – T.Skoroduli; architect – E.Ignatova; architect – D.Potryasaev
1.2012 — 1.2013
Commissioner – autonomous non-profit organization “Bid committee EXPO 2020”
Allied suppliers – “Laboratory of Transport Systems”, “Ilia Mochalov and Partners”, “M.K.Z. Engineering”
At the end of this year, in Paris, the venue of the
World Universal Exhibition "EXPO 2020" will be announced. Besides Russia's Yekaterinburg, this role is claimed by
four cities - Dubai, Sao
Paulo, Ayutthaya, and Izmir. However, the most
important part of the bid book that our country has submitted to take part in
this high-profile competition, is the architectural proposal and the
town-planning contest of the "Expo" territory in Yekaterinburg
developed by ABD Architects.
This exhibition is not only a
major international event, but also a very effective way to stimulate the
development of the city and the region where it is organized. That is why the
project of ABD architects provides not only for the "Expo" with all
the necessary facilities, but also a strategy to use these facilities after the
event. After the exhibition is over, the greatest changes will be made in the
first place to the expo park: some pavilions will be dismantled and utilized;
some will be turned into office and cultural spaces, while the residential and
public buildings will become the residential stock of the city.
As the area for ExpoPark,
Yekaterinburg offered the architects two places to choose from: one in the
immediate vicinity of the airport, and the other not far away from the heart of
the city, on the bank of a large natural lake. The choice was made in favor of
the Verkh-IsetskyLake - not only because
this place is more attractive but mostly because of the fact that the new
residential buildings, the roads, and the public facilities as well as the
landscaped territories are more appropriate and required within, and not
outside, the city. This place has other benefits as well. For example, there is
a symbolic border of Europe and Asia nearby,
and this attraction can be made part of the exposition in the open air. What is
more, in the immediate vicinity, there is a high hill, on the top of which a
sightseeing platform can be built, from which the entire future expo park will
be plainly seen.
The transport plan of the
territory of the future exhibition was developed with consideration of the
already-approved project of highway development in Russia. The architects proposed to
build a bridge across the lake and thus close the minor transport ring of
Yekaterinburg. Simultaneously, this will ensure the best accessibility of the
exhibition grounds both from the north and from the south. The bridge will be a
two-level one, besides the highway, it is planned to lay a railroad track on it
that will connect the exhibition with the airport. The superhighway that runs
from the bridge, in turn, will approach the transport junction that will
connect it with the Moscow
highway running from the West, and with the street leading to the center of
city. Next to the highway junction, a capacious parking lot will be built,
together with a transport and transfer terminal, the latter uniting under its
roof a subway and an underground station, a bus depot, shopping areas, and a
conference hall with a hotel.
The main entrance into the
Expo-park is located in the immediate proximity from the transport terminal. In
addition, the exhibition area will be accessible by city bus directly from the
city center, and from the ExpoVillage. In addition to
its own subway station, "Expo" is planned to connect with the heart
of Yekaterinburg by a tramway line, and there will be built a helipad for
VIP-persons. Inside the Expo-Park, only environmentally-friendly kind of
transport will be used - electro bus with a route covering the entire perimeter
of the expo area, and the water tram. For the water tram, the authors propose
to dig a ring channel that will be filled with the water from the lake.
The existing streets of
Yekaterinburg set the main axes of the newly-designed territory of the
Expo-Park and its residential quarters, which, according to the architects'
plan, will ensure a maximally organic inclusion of the improved section into
the already-formed structure of the city. However, this was only one of the
challenges faced by the authors of the concept. The layout of the expo area
took into account all sorts of factors. Among others, this was the uniformity
of the distribution of the points of attraction and services for the visitors,
and the ease of finding one's bearings at the exhibition, and the accessibility
of each specific pavilion. Totally, the exhibition will consist of 103 pavilions
- these will form the squares, and these squares, in turn, will be
"strung", very much like beads on the main pedestrian axis that will
stretch from west to east.
As is the custom at “Expo”, the
large exhibiting countries are building their pavilions by themselves, while
the smaller countries occupy the so-called "joints" that are going to
be built by the on-venue construction company. Besides, the exhibition is going
to feature quite a few of "corporate" and "theme' pavilions, as
well as the pavilions of federal regions of Russia. It is planned that the
latter will be built along the main promenade - the esplanade that starts at
the main entrance. Its perspective will be closed by the pavilion of Russia that is going to be executed in the shape
of a bridge that symbolically connects Europe and Asia.
After the pavilion of Russia, the axis of the esplanade
will be continued by the developed pier, which is planned as the area for
conducting light shows and fireworks. The entire territory of the exhibition is
divided into the day and night zones. When the pavilions are closed, the
visitors go over to the embankment. Designed as one big natural park, it is
filled with a lot of "evening-type" facilities: expo-arena,
amphitheater, Movie Theater, hybrid library, and a few multi-purpose venues.
The theme of “EXPO -2020” is
already known - “Global Reason”, and, of course, first of all, it will find its
reflection in the exposures of the theme and national pavilions; however, the
authors of the concept wanted it to also show though in the outward appearance
of the exhibition complex. For this purpose, as the key architectural image, a
crystal was chosen - the jagged edges of the pavilions and the white color of
their facades, according to ABD architects, will not only create the right
associations but will also enhance the "Ural" origin of this
"mineral". However, the design of the concrete objects of exhibition
still belongs to the future, as the architects say, sincerely hoping to get to
it after the positive resolution of the International Bureau of Exhibitions.
Project Team:
Leader of the author collective, general director of OOO "ABD" - B.Levyant; deputy director on design – B.Stuchebryukov; director on project management – A.Korzenkova; chief architect of the project – A.Feoktistova; leader architect – T.Skoroduli; architect – E.Ignatova; architect – D.Potryasaev
1.2012 — 1.2013
Commissioner – autonomous non-profit organization “Bid committee EXPO 2020”
Allied suppliers – “Laboratory of Transport Systems”, “Ilia Mochalov and Partners”, “M.K.Z. Engineering”
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