The creation of the Garden Ring dates back to the beginning of the 19^th century replacement of the obsolete ramparts enclosing Zemlyanoy Gorod. The Client has decided to improve the layout of the Garden Ring and restore the notion of gardens along one of Moscow’s most important arteries. MDP has been commissioned with the Concept Design for Krasnie Vorota Square, one of Sadovoye Koltso’s main public squares in the North-Eastern part of the Ring.

The project perimeter’s surface area totals to approximately 1.8 ha, and iscrossed by three main streets. In general, the entire site is heavily impacted by the presence of cars, disconnecting and isolating each pedestrian area from its context. In the framework of the reorganized traffic scheme, the width of the Ring which is now approximately 50m will be reduced to 40m, giving a chance to compose a new spatial coherence.

The content of the future square was found by observing the Russian landscape, especially its forests. The majority of Russia is covered with forests, from the crisp Siberian taigas up North to the lush Caucasian forests along the Black Sea. By their strong presence and ubiquity, forests represent an essential part of Russian culture, as source of sustenance and traditional tales.

The present design for Krasnie Vorota Square proposes a kind of miniature forest crisscrossed by “anticipated desire paths” that connect various destinations with each other. This reconstituted forest is characterized by its thickness, the richness of a real living environment. It is made up of a number of planted green pockets – a sort of enlarged opus incertum – which are carved up by the numerous informal pathways.

The landscape design that results is a rhythm of successive horizon lines and slight meanders. An unexpected topography that additionally incorporates an irregular planting of trees. The plant presence is immediate. The project is based on a device of explicit artifice, on a contemporary and sculpted arrangement of natural elements.  

The new Krasnie Vorota square takes on the appearance of a mysteriously dimensioned landscape, a planted ground with a thin, yet dense texture, to all appearances uniform. A miniature forest evoking a sort of transposed nature.