Corridor Park. Strategy for Dnieper Islands

The main reason why Kyiv islands have become a wasteland is that they almost have no access from both sides of the river. For a 12-kilometer piece of land of Trukhaniv and Muromets islands there are only three points from which one can get into the area (from the Moscow bridge, from the pedestrian bridge and from Hydropark). Hardly anybody can cover the distance on foot and get pleasure from walking and contemplation.

Kyiv Islands
The main reason why Kyiv islands have become a wasteland is that they almost have no access from both sides of the river. For a 12-kilometer piece of land of Trukhaniv and Muromets islands there are only three points from which one can get into the area (from the Moscow bridge, from the pedestrian bridge and from Hydropark). Hardly anybody can cover the distance on foot and get pleasure from walking and contemplation.

The Corridors Park is an axis of the islands
Let us form an axis on which the islands from Muromets to Venetian lay. It is to become a new cultural center of Kyiv, we call it The Corridors Park. Tranformation of the area starts from here and gradually spreads onto the rest of the islands. The idea of the Park is based on preserving the ecological richness of the site and at the same time incorporating new urban practices. This equilibrium between conservation of nature and urbanization of the area is hit by designing an urban park with green corridors. In order to set a strategy of the future development and because of the size of the site our idea is rather to define a scheme than a detailed plan of the park

The Smartroad corridor makes the park self-efficient
The park consists of ten corridors. They are the landscape stripes except for the Smartroad that crosses the park from north to south. It consists of two levels: a monorail and a motorway. A seven-station monorail allows an even distribution of people arriving from left and right banks. The motorway connecting Rusanivka and Obolon neighborhoods is plugged in to existing highway crossings. It is a tollroad with a 60 km/h speed limit: to use it you have to pay. A Smartroad itself consists of piezoelectric elements that generate electricity from contact of the car wheels with the road. The amount of energy generated is enough to power the monorail, lighten the park and charge the electric car batteries. Under the road is a pipe that disallows the polluting gas to escape into the atmosphere. The pipe absorbs CO2 and delivers it to a carbon dioxide processing unit (CDPU) on the edge of Kyiv. The gas passes through a filtration process and feeds microscopic seaweed. The seaweed is used to produce fuel.

The Landscape corridors create a diverse natural environment
Le promenade corridor is a planted pedestrian and bicycle path. The Boulevard corridor is a transition space between the park and the urbanized area. The productive corridor is a place where fruit trees are planted. The waterfront corridor is a natural area that implements an anti-erosion strategy. The brook corridor provides water throughout the whole area of the project. The wetlands are located on both sides of the brook. The ecotone corridor is a protective space between the park and the adjacent areas. The native forest corridor consists of native plants. A maximum of existing trees is placed here. The evergreen corridor keeps the park green all year long. The crossing space between corridors is an essential part of design. There are three kinds of crossings:

• geometrical mix: the transition between the corridors is made formal.
• ecological mix: the crossing of two corridors creates a new ecosystem that takes 50% from each environment.
• typological mix: in the crossing site a new planted space emerges with no direct relation to either of the corridors.
  The curves and the crossings of the corridors generate open spaces. Depending on shape, size and location these clearings have different typologies. They can be lawns, pastures, flowering meadows, orchards, botanical fields, playgrounds or even small sites for commerce (kiosk, newsstand etc).

Established social practices in Druzhby Narodiv Park are to be preserved
It's a long time since the Druzhby Narodiv Park on Trukhaniv island has become a place for extreme sports. There is a whole bunch of activities there: an amateur offroad motortrack, trial and bmx sites, the school of wakeboarding, a place for techno-trance music parties under the Moscow bridge. A piece of vacant land in the center of Kyiv evolutioned in one of the best sites for youth’s active entertainment. The activities that naturally filled the area have to be preserved and encouraged. On the north-east the X-Camp is bounded by Lapuhovaty island. This is why rather noisy activities (e.g., dancing, skating, offroad) are set closer to existing highway and they become quiter (e.g., chess, frisby, golf) as they get closer to the reserved area. The X-Camp also includes a temporary accomodation for guests from other countries taking part in competitions.

Trukhaniv art residence with an open-air exhibition space
The south-western part of Trukhaniv will become an art residence. It will give the most talented artists from all-over the world a possibility to bring their ideas to life. This is a place for self-fulfilment and creativity. Life in the art residence is funded with grants from international foundations. The artworks created here while taking part in exhibitions all-over the world will popularize Ukraine. The space of the art residence is composed of the single-story houses (temporary accomodation for the artists) and pieces of flat walls standing here and there all over the place. The wall surfaces form an open-air exhibition and a natural space for performance.

Combining work and leisure helps revitalize Hydropark
Hydropark has become a Shanghai attached to the metro station. Like a Trukhaniv island, the park is active only after 9 pm and at weekends. During the rest of the time it is a no man's land. Diversifying functions can bring Hydropark to life. To make it usable all the time leisure has to be counterbalanced by work, small daily activities with the large-scale monthly ones. Thus, the park is divided into three areas: a daily entertainment zone, a business center and a fest field for massive events. The office life would make Hydropark more habitable and more usable at working hours. The business area consists of energy efficient passive houses. To make it different from the entertainment zone and its bubble-like architecture, the office buildings have geometric forms.

Kyiv Zoo is set beside the reserved area on Dolobetsky island
The Kyiv Zoo situated among apartment houses must be moved to a natural environment that the islands have in abundance. It finds its home on Dolobetsky island beside the reserved area thus growing in size from 20 to 40 ha. The areas complement each other by sharing the same staff. Biologists, zoologists and environmentalists will look after both of the facilities having their workspace in-between the zoo and the national park.

Eco-village in the core of megapolis
People from all-over Ukraine visit Kyiv to become familiar with modern trends. This is not only contemporary art and music or some fashion boutiques, but also the metropolis itself. The center of the capital embodies a modern man and his lifestyle. Thus, we treat the center of Kyiv as a placeholder for an important message to be read by its visitors. The Dnipro islands is a piece of nature to be preserved among asphalt (roads), concrete (buildings) and metal (cars). Which is why the islands could become the Ukrainian headquarters of eco-culture that spread the ideas of eco-consciousness, nature preservation and organic farming among the citizens.
Eco-village requires neither construction nor terrain transformation.
It consists of a temporary housing that is integrated in existing environment. Among those are wofati buildings, summer tree houses and winter igloos. Gardening, gathering plants and vegetables for a meal, soil cultivation are welcome here. An eco-village would develop new (at least, not widely known in Ukraine) agricultural forms: a crater garden, raised garden beds, permacultural gardening and farming techniques. Eco-camping on Trukhaniv island could be both a short-term accomodation for tourists and an alternative family entertainment for weekends. Eco-village is also a perfect place for educational events – seminars, workshops and exhibitions.

How to make Kyiv islands people-friendly
The model proposed by this project can be applied in other cities divided by the river with islands. The main approach here is as follows. Instead of connecting each island with a set of bridges to both of the river banks, a common axis of the islands is formed. The passageway going through the islands along the river is connected to existing highway crossings providing wide access to the islands. Another approach is creating a diversity of functions. Recreation area is not a recreation-only space. There might be different reasons for people to be here: transit, work, temporary accomodation, excursions for tourists, art and sports activities, just a place to hang out. This implies various scenarios of pastime and makes the area people-friendly throughout the day.