FORTGROUP Managing Partner Maxim Levchenko — About Krysha Mira on Prospekt Mira in Europolis

The Europolis Rostokino Roof Park, which occupies almost 3 hectares of open space, is to become a place where the industrial architecture of the capital's outskirts is becoming gradually overgrown with thickets. And, on the contrary, the architecture of the suburbs suddenly emerges from the thickets. Nobody beats anybody. They are just component parts of a single whole. Like a sculpture.

The building of the former Golden Babylon in Rostokino looks terrifying from the outside as if it were a defunct monster. It can only be fought in a battle tank or a huge American SUV.

Climbing up to the roof of the Shopping and Entertainment Centre on a spiral of snails is comparable to the feat worthy of the heroes of the Game Of Thrones.

Having invented and then implemented the idea of El Rancho, I clearly realised how cozy and proportionate to the human scale a small space on the giant roof car park of a shopping centre can be. You can live here and feel just as good as in a country house in Moscow Region!

The idea of the former Golden Babylon reconception is aimed at comparing the giant building with the "human scale" – in terms of height, width, length and area. Let's say, for example, that the length of a shopping gallery from the start to the end is about 800 metres, and there are four such galleries in Rostokino. As well as all other types of place... In short, if you walk very fast, without stopping, it would take you an hour to go the whole way. That’s without taking into account shops, cafes, etc.

It turns out to be almost like an average European city in size. Have you ever seen any self-respecting town in the Old World without gardens or parks? I’ve not come across any. Why should our Europolis (literally Eurocity) be any different?

As I already said, you can get from Europolis onto the roof by means of the metal staircase. It's going to be some kind of bridge between the food hall and the park.

Entering a new space should be a complete surprise for visitors who have never been up on the roof before. Maybe we'll build a tiny entrance, from which a small door will lead you into green thickets, allowing you to hide from the hustle and bustle of the city. The park should consist of unfinished concrete silhouettes, without roofs or windows, or columns. To give the impression that there are ruins around you that have been absorbed by nature. Thickets inside concrete forms can also be an installation and an experiment. By the way, cherry or apple trees will help with the preparations for the alcohol brewing station, and cucumbers or tomatoes, grown as if by chance, will serve as a great snack.

It's important that the garden is self-sustaining and that it grows more and more over the years.
Still, the basis should be... banal weeds that are planted or sown once.

Somewhere, I suppose, it makes sense to make a simple staircase to climb to the second level of the concrete structure and end up on the roof in a square. From there, you can look at the horizon through a narrow slot.

Another option is a small balcony overlooking Losiny Island or the monument Worker And Kolkhoz Woman. Whatever your fantasy is.

A lot depends on the visitors, what they can think of, what pictures they can draw in their imagination.

From a technical point of view, the construction of lightweight structures on the roof will allow for the correct distribution of loads, placing them on existing columns, as well as creating a fertile layer in these areas. It's like huge flowerbeds. To know how many flowerbeds can be built, you need to look at the plans. Everything depends on the size and what we want to put in the park.

I suppose there will be 10–15 zones. All of them should have their own specific story. A parallel to each zone with an art object, topical station or attraction is drawn.

In any case, if children are interested, it can be considered a success. At the Olafur Eliasson exhibition in London's Tate Modern, I watched my 14-year-old son and his friend from England. Usually teenagers get bored and spend time on their phones when their parents drag them to museums, but by Eliasson, something new unusual and uncomplicated was waiting for them around every corner. The boys didn't want to leave, but I was hungry and had to pull them out of the labyrinths to get actual, rather than spiritual, nutrition.

Roofing in Europolis is operable with a permissible load of half a ton per square meter, which is a lot. There is drainage. All this should significantly simplify the task, as capital construction is not required.

Between the stations — art objects — and the attractions, paths will be laid, they can light if made out of wood.

It is necessary to equip places where people can sit down with a book and relax, plan playgrounds for street games — skittles, hopscotch, big chess, etc.

In winter, you can fill the open skating rink, lay a cross-country ski track (it's even easier with a ski track, no special equipment required). It is necessary to organise light snack points for happy skiers and skaters, so that hungry citizens can warm up with street food and pour themselves hot drinks — tea, coffee, boiling water.

In summer, in good weather, you need to sell soft drinks and ice cream. Take a walk, read, breathe the fresh air, look at the architecture and bush.

Nobody prevents us from all year-round holding food festivals, open-air concerts, inviting artists and architects to work on new bushes on the roof.

I have already said that there are various technical rooms on the roof, arranged as separate small structures – ventilation chambers and shafts, stairs. All this can be hidden behind composite mirrors.

We used something similar to make a decorative chandelier-dress in the main atrium at the stairs leading to the park.

And finally. I'm counting on a great plan, not an impressive budget — we won't pull it. We’re continuing to work on ideas.