The Moscow Department of Culture, Mosgorpark Joint Directorate State Institution and the Archpolis Centre for Territorial Initiatives are announcing a tender to create the concept of the Mitino Landscape Park. The tender customer is the Babushinskiy Park of Culture and Recreation Independent State Institution.

Over the last few years, capital authorities have been especially focusing on improving the city’s parks and public places. Parks in Moscow are being landscaped and renovated as part of the city’s program “Developing the Tourism and Recreation Industry, 2012-2018”. Under this program, the city’s parks are being cleaned up, landscaped and fitted with various new facilities, in a word, they are made even more comfortable and appealingfor the city’s residents.

A conceptual framework for improving the Gorky Central Recreational and Culture Park was developed in 2013. In May of 2014, the city announced an international tender to create the concept for the Sokolniki Park, which is currently in its last phase. Improving and landscaping the Mitino Landscape Park is just one more step on the road to improving the city’s green spaces under its ambitious parks program.

Mitino is a unique landscape park in Moscow which is surrounded by the residential Mitino district. In the 1990s, archaeologists uncovered ancient burial mounds overgrown with firs in the valley of the Baryshikha River that passes through the park. After further investigation, the site was deemed a cultural and historical landmark. The park in Mitino was last rehabilitated in 2003 through a project by the Mosproekt-3 Institute.

In searching for an optimal solution to further improve the Mitino Park in 2014, the city’s authorities turned to their residents for help with the Active Resident mobile app. Voting results from this app were taken into considerationto create the present tender.

Around 25.6% of the region’s residents voted for bike trails in the park, 21% voted for children’s playgrounds while 14.6% wanted to see a rink or stadium in their park. Residents showed the least amount of enthusiasm for extreme sports grounds, pump tracksand tennis courts in the park.

Tender Objective: developing the concept for the unique landscape park on the outskirts of the city, the only park for the residents in the Mitino district, a park with a very expansive territory as well as an important cultural and archaeological heritage.

The concept must account for the area’s characteristic landscape, must correspond to the interests of the various visitor groups and offer a sustainable financial model for park development. The park must maintain its unique natural space with its challenging and varied terrain and must provide the city’s residents with the opportunity for daily recreation while at the same time retaining its cultural significance. Furthermore, the chosen concept must comply with the requirements of versatility (all-season access) of the park and must determine its development strategy in the mid-term.

 The official website of the tender: www.conceptmitino.com

Sergei Kapkov, Moscow Government Minister, Head of Moscow’s Department of Culture

“The Mitino Landscape Park was transferred into the care of the Culture Department at the end of last year. Understanding the importance of the park for Mitino residents and the area’s enormous potential, we have decided to announce a tender to finda concept to develop the park. We are hoping to see innovative ideas from tender participants, but at the same time, we will be sure to account for the wishes of our residents.”

Marina Lyulchuk, Director of the Mosgorpark Joint Directorate State Institution

“Rational ideas for a beautiful park is what we are expecting to see from this tender. We would not want to crowd the park with too much infrastructure, but we are hoping to see a balance between the necessary and additional elements. It is very important for us to keep the special characteristic landscape in the park, but at the same time we are planning to use the best Russian and western experience in developing parks like this one.”

Sergei Georgiyevskiy, head of the Tender Organising Committee, ArchpolisPartner

“We are viewing the tender to create the park’s concept as an effective tool to search for the best ideas and positive social changes and we hope that the tender attracts not only professionals, but our residents as well.”

Tender type: open

Timeline: August 27 to November 28, 2014. Applications will be accepted between August 27 and September 19, 2014. Winners will be announced on November 28, 2014.

The tender will be held in two stages:

Stage I (applicationsubmission) – August 27 to September 19, 2014

Stage II (finalists work on their concept) – September 25 to November 17, 2014

The three best teams selected as finalists after the first stage will receive 700,000 roubles per team.

The tender winner will be chosen by the jury from 6 finalists and will receive 1 million roubles.

The tender is open to Russian legal entities or groups of legal entities. The tender is also open to foreign companies, which may be part of a group with a Russian leader. Participants may be architects, landscape designers, designers or urban planners who are able to put together a team ofspecialists in engineering, public space management, the recreation industry, cultural programs, economics, finances, sociology, the environment and wildlife management.

Jury and expert council: renowned professionals in architecture, urban planning, archaeology, landscaping, environment and park development.

Jury Chairman:Sergei Kapkov, Moscow Government Minister, Head of Moscow’s Department of Culture.

Deputy Jury Chairman:Marina Lyulchuk, Director of the Mosgorpark Joint Directorate State Institution.

Tender Organiser

The Archpolis Centre for Territorial Initiatives is the company managing the Nikola-Lenivets Project (650 hectare arts park). Archpolisconducts research and undertakes projects to develop public spaces which include the Zaraysk pedestrian area project, the concept of the historical re-enactment park for the RDI company (New Moscow), the Landscape School pilot project (Vorobyevy Gory Nature Reserve, Moscow), the concept for the Maslenitsa celebrations in the Gorky Central Park (Moscow) and many others. In 2013, Archpolis launched an educational program that combines urban planning, architecture, economic and social sciences titled New Leaders in Territorial Development. The company’s experience in improving public spaces as well as organising international festivals and tenders (one of the latest being the tender to develop the concept for the Sokolniki Park) has allowed it to organise the current tender.

Partners

The tender is held with the support of Moscow’s Department of Culture and the Mosgorpark Joint Directorate State Institution.

Customer:Babushinskiy Park of Culture and Recreation Independent State Institution.

Informational support is provided by the Rules of Communication PR Agency

About Mitino Park

Unique in its cultural significance and its natural beauty, the Mitino Landscape Park is located in Moscow in the Mitino district and is bordered by the Riga rail line, the NovotushinskiyProyezd, Mitinskaya Street, Baryshki Street and Penyaginskaya Street. The park’s area covers 126 hectares of land. The park has a six-hectare lake and a natural spring which has been blessed by a priest from the Holy Equal-to-Apostles Konstantin and Elena Chapel Church in honour of the PochayevskayaMother of God Icon. The participants’ objective is further made more challenging by the presence of high-voltage power lines and the area’s complexterrain.

The park territory was covered with a forest until the 1930s. In 1933, a section of the park was cleared to construct a cottage town for the workers of the Moscow Bread Baking Group. In the 1990s, after widespread residential construction began in Mitino, the area was investigated by archaeologists. They uncovered 11th-13th century burial mounds in the park. In 2003, a landscape park was constructed in the valley of the Baryshikha River as part of the Mosproekt-3 Institute project.

In November of 2013, after the Mitino Landscape Park was transferred into the care of the Department of Culture, the park underwent minor changes and received new benches, garbage bins, a children’s playground with further plans to install workout grounds.

The Mitino Park is presently a branch of the Babushinskiy Park of Culture and Recreation Independent State Institution.This is one of the largest landscape parks on the outskirts of the city and the only park for the residents in Mitino.

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