Sirius Waterfront Competition_

LandLAB won an open international design competition to develop an urban design and public realm strategy for the 7.5km long waterfront in Sirius, Russia in 2021. The LandLAB scheme was selected as the winner from a group of 5 finalists including BIG (Denmark), !melk (USA), L’AUC + Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (France), LOLA (Netherlands) and AB Chvoya (Russia).

“The winning concept is distinguished by an environmentally oriented approach, attention to the cultural and historical context of our territory and the functionality of the space. We are very pleased that the opinion of the jury members coincided with ours, and the concept that meets both of these criteria won.” - Elena Shmeleva, Chairman of the Council of the Federal Territory "Sirius"

Our approach was ecologically and landscape led acknowledging the need to create places, identity and experiences that express the landscape of Sirius through a series of dynamic locations and ecosystems of maximum activity, exchange and hybridisation. We see a transition in the way of understanding the existing waterfront from a linear ‘promenade’ to seeing it as a wider maritime interface. An expanded and re-imagined ‘front’ where the city can express its traditions, expand its uses and discover new potentials.

We imagined an identity for Sirius which draws upon its wider landscape context to inform a design concept which expresses the unique geology, bathymetry, hydrological processes and ecological systems of the region.  This re-connects Sirius to its environment, improving quality of life and amenities for existing residents, driving tourism, and attracting new visitors and residents to this place.

4 x key moves provide an organising strategy to inform a new high performance and multi-layered waterfront that re-establishes connections between people, land and sea.

001 Promenade Network_ a suite of urban elements that provide a new contemporary identity for the waterfront. Supports a new range of occupation, activation and authentic waterfront experiences and reinforces the promenade as a single connecting and unifying element of the waterfront_

002 Green Network_ a range of landscape and ecological interventions that enable the emergence of a meaningful waterfront ecology and open space network that better connects city and sea_

003 Blue Network_ a range of water and waters edge infrastructural and landscape interventions that supports the proposed coastal protection strategy and enables a new range of waterfront experiences and opportunities that support waterfront identity_

004 Placemaking Network_ a program of social and architectural interventions that optimise the development opportunities of the project, establish a cohesive built form strategy and enable additional activation and occupation of the waterfront that supports the promenade_

Our approach was landscape driven - adaptive, ecological and regenerative - embedding the necessary resilience, sustainability and innovation for the project to deliver on the multiple issues associated with carbon reduction and climate change. Enabling the project to become a contributor to the local economy combining technical interventions with an environmental and social agenda to create a new identity and place that is undeniably Sirius.

“I would like to note the really high quality of the winner's work. The concept takes into account the geographical, historical and cultural context of the territory, as well as its landscape characteristics. This is the only concept that relied on the tectonics of the landscape, providing a variety of public spaces and access to the sea.” - Martin Rein Kano, jury member, co-founder and managing partner of Topotek 1.