Благоустройство территории Березуйского оврага в Калуге
Project contents
I. Context Analysis - location of the project area and its history - landscape and visual analysis of the site - the Stone Bridge - conclusions about the project site
II. Project proposal - concept of planning organisation of the territory - master plan - proposal for the organisation of the landscape and slopes - architectural objects: wooden bridges, pavilions, restoration of the Stone Bridge, new bathhouses on the old site
I. Context Analysis
Project area location
Kaluga is a city 160 km south-west of Moscow, located on the banks of the Oka River and its tributaries — Yachenka, Kaluzhka, Kiyovka. Berezuysky ravine — an area in the centre of Kaluga, which is a densely overgrown gully with trees.
Location of Kaluga in relation to Moscow; location of the project area in the city.
This relief formed as a result of glacier melting, and later it became an important strategic object for the city: the ravine was the border of the Kaluga Kremlin and Zavershye, and later it divided the city into two parts.
Nowadays the ravine territory is not used in any way, and instead of the bathhouses and manor houses that once existed in the ravine there are chaotic self-buildings, and the Berezuya brook has been replaced by a storm water drainage system.
Landscape-visual analysis of the territory
The Stone Bridge
The project of the bridge was designed by architect Peter Romanovich Nikitin in the style of Russian classicism (1777–1780). The length of the structure is about 160 metres, height about 20 metres. The bridge is supported by 15 large stone arches, the central arches are made in 2 levels.
Archival documents from the book: Kaluga Berezui: experience of documentary description / compiler and editor V. N. Fridgelm. — 2nd edition, supplement. — Kaluga: Fridgelm, 2021.
What do tourists and locals say?
Conclusions about the project site
Advantages: - unique for the urban environment territory; - preserved monument of cultural heritage — the Stone Bridge; - location in the city centre; - presence of watercourses — Berezuy brook, Oka; history of the place.
Disadvantages: - Lack of connection with the town; - lack of a distinct function of the territory; chaotic self-buildings; - a large number of weedy, dry trees that hinder the view of the ravine; - polluted and partially piped Berezui brook.
Ways of solution: - clearing the gully of dry and weedy trees; - stream restoration; - strengthening of the banks; - creation of a park zone; - organising links with the city.
II. Project proposal
The concept of the project proposal is the organisation of a linear multi-level park in the ravine, which connects the city in two directions: across — the right and left slopes, and along — the upper and lower part of the ravine. The park is formed by several semantic layers, each of which has its own function.
The first is the three arterial paths. They run through the entire ravine and set three parallel vectors to which organised descents from adjacent streets lead. Where the descents directly approach the three main axes, wooden bridges are provided to cross from one axis to the other. The final layer consists of pavilions located on both slopes of the ravine. Some of them are viewing platforms, some of them are closed pavilions where you can sit down and relax.
master plan
1 — tennis courts 2 — promenade 3 — shopping square 4 — ruins of Davingof baths (conservation) 5 — new baths 6 — small market square 7 — big market square
S of the projected territory = 10,2 ha S of the territory of the object of cultural heritage of federal significance ‘Stone Bridge’ = 6,56 ha Total length: metal ramps = 709,62 m wooden decks = 807,1 m stairs = 714,5 m
Wooden bridges
In the 19th and 20th centuries, wooden bridges and steep ladders were built across the stream in the ravine in several places. On the basis of these structures, a typology of wooden structures was created, which are responsible for the descent into the ravine and provide transverse connections between its slopes.
type 1 — staircase, type 2 — staircase + observation deck; type 3 — stairs + two-level viewing platform; type 4 — cross bridge.
Scheme for organising the descent. The elevations are given relative to the minimum elevation of the Berezuya Brook.
Pavilions
Left: police box at the descent to the spring; centre: the chapel above the Zdorovets spring; right: the chapel at the Church of the Intercession.
‘…at the beginning of the last century from the side of the modern Cosmonaut Komarov Street there was a stone staircase with a police box to the spring’, — writes Sergey Sychev in the article ‘Secrets of Berezuy’.
The territory of the Berezuysky ravine has the status of a cultural heritage site of federal significance, and, according to Russian law, capital new construction is prohibited on this territory. Therefore, the project proposes to restore the lost structures — two chapels and a police booth — and replicate them on the ravine territory.
Anti-arch (WC)
In 1870-1880s the Zdorovets spring was enclosed with a wooden log cabin; inside it there was an icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker. In 1892 a stone one-domed chapel with a hipped roof was erected.
The chapel was not preserved, only fragments of its foundation remained. It was finally destroyed in the 70s of the last century. A memorial plaque was erected in its place.
Chapel over the Zdorovets spring
Restoration of the Stone Bridge
The Stone Bridge was built in 1785 and has been restored many times since then. After the most recent renovation work, the bridge was covered with white plaster. Now the original red brick can only be seen spotty on the broken and destroyed sections.
The design solution proposed is to resurface the Bridge, removing the plaster and restoring the original appearance; constructing temporary multi-level wooden structures around the perimeter for easy inspection.
View from the structures around the perimeter of the bridge
New baths on the old site
In the early and mid-19th century, there were several bathhouses in the Berezuyskiy ravine: two wooden bathhouses of burgher Nikolai Sokolov, wooden bathhouses of burgher Mikhail Meshkov and stone bathhouses of burgher Yakov Koltsov, covered with planks. In 1882 Davingof bought the Sapozhnikov estate with the baths. These baths became known as Davingof baths. Its were used in the USSR until 1987, until they were closed.
Now there are ruins on the place of the baths. It is proposed to mothball them and to build two new wooden bathhouses nearby, which will be rented out.
