【OBERMEYER International Practice】 A cultural park for the legendary city of Magnitogorsk, Russia

In the middle of 2019 OBERMEYER was commissioned to conceive a new cultural park in the center of Magnitogorsk, Russia, which involves urban design, landscape planning and architectural concepts design. the concept designing was completed in May 2020. And OBERMEYER will also supervise the planning work in the following phases.

 

The Legendary Industrial City

Magnitogorsk is located in the east of the Urals. This city of 400,000 inhabitants is also home to one of the world's largest steel producer—Magnitogorsky Metallurgitschesky Kombinat (MMK). The urban planning of Magnitogorsk has strong historical connections with Germany: German architects designed residential buildings and factories for this city in the 1920s.

Convincing within an international bidding process, OBERMEYER was commissioned to plan this paramount project of new urban development, where a new city center is going to be built on a large-scale site measuring 250 hectares over the next five years. 

Multiple Functions

In addition to the natural settings, there shall be a variety of cultural and civic places attracting visitors: a museum dedicated to the history of the city, a children's play and learning center, an ice hockey arena, a large tennis hall, a freestyle arena, a swimming pool and several lovely buildings for restaurants and cafés use.

ECO-Concept

As a lively bond, the park develops from the eastern edge of the city to the western edge of the natural greenery.  Along the public road to the east is a 1.5 kilometers long green walkway, which softly and naturally integrates with a sequence of public squares and multifunctional buildings.

An existing water body has been considerably enlarged for giving space to a lakeside pavilion, which provides a splendid outlook to the lush and purified wetlands.

Activity Ribbon

Another unique feature of this park is the introduction of an "Activity Ribbon" - a wide ring with a length of 4 kilometers, which opens to the entire terrain – it’s the green walkway with lake embedded in nature. The “ribbon” is both dynamic and flexible since there are plenty of playgrounds and climbing facilities, a pipe rail slideway, various adventure trails, scenic spots and an appealing beach.