FROM RAILS TO RICHES
13 Aug 2020
KCAP and Orange Architects have proposed for St Petersburg’s disused Tovarno-Vitebskaya railway yard to be transformed into a new multipurpose district with vibrant greenspaces that will activate the area. The project will combine historic structures with contemporary architecture to commemorate the site’s history.
Dutch architectural firms KCAP and Orange Architects have teamed up with A.Len Architectural Bureau to present the Adaptive Reuse proposal for the St Petersburg railway yard, which is located in the city’s ‘grey belt’.
The proposal would see the yard on Ligovsky Prospekt transformed into a residential district for 8600 people and will include restaurants, cafes, leisure and recreation facilities, retail, schools and parking lots. Extensive greenspaces will be incorporated into the plan, including linear parks and landscape boulevards that follow the rail tracks. Courtyards and walkways provide intimate spaces in between the buildings.
The architects plan to repurpose historic elements within the space including buildings, cranes, tracks and poles as part of the new parks.
The main entrance to the project will be located at the Borovaya metro station.
“We want to create an active and landscaped environment where you can feel the history of the railway and live with the people around you,” says Patrick Meijers, partner at Orange Architects. “An area that simultaneously is smoothly connected to the city of St. Petersburg.”
Images via Orange Architects