The concept of modernizing the memorial complex by organizing a bicycle road combined with a pedestrian path (head Ilya Afanasyichev)

Eight teams of master's students from the SPbGASU Faculty of Architecture presented their concepts for modernizing the architectural and landscape complex “Road of Life” at the competition of the Urban Planning Policy Committee of the Leningrad Region for a grant from the Governor of the Leningrad Region. The competition brought together master's students from SPbGASU and other Russian regions, showing the interest of the younger generation in preserving historical heritage and updating the well-known memorial.

Svetlana Levoshko, PhD of Architecture, Associate Professor at the Department of Urban Planning of the Faculty of Architecture, coordinator of the SPbGASU participating teams, explained that students - future specialists - were attracted to the competition on the “Road of Life” on purpose, expecting the most extraordinary solutions from them and giving them the opportunity to express their vision of the memorial.

“Modernization should solve the problems of road and transport infrastructure, ecology, landscape and environmental organization of existing monuments, and possibly the creation of new memorial places. The educational and memorial content of the “Road of Life” route must be combined with high quality service for tourists. This object is difficult to transform due to its enormous length of 46 kilometers, moreover, it is a cultural heritage site, an element of the Green Belt of Glory component - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Therefore, strict requirements are imposed on the modernization of the complex, and the architects are faced with a difficult task: on the one hand, to preserve the appearance of the object as much as possible, on the other, to satisfy modern requirements as much as possible,” commented Svetlana Levoshko.

Over the decades, the route of the “Road of Life” highway has expanded significantly, coming close to some monuments, in some places eliminating the possibility of safe pedestrian traffic. There is an urgent need for spacious parking lots, since excursion buses have nowhere to turn around, for stops and pedestrian crossings. When developing the concept, it was necessary to delve into the history of the subject formation of the complex, decide what urban planning, architectural, landscape design means could not only preserve this memorial object, but also develop it spatially and semantically, emphasize territorial unity, uniqueness and significance, and improve the ecological condition. Nowadays, the memorial road, in fact, is a very noisy highway with heavy traffic, chaotically built up in some areas, with a polluted air basin: it is very difficult to care for monuments directly along the road, they are especially susceptible to the negative influence of the atmosphere.

Sketch of a memorial to those killed on Lake Ladoga (headed by Viktoria Skoda)

Viktoria Skoda, a second-year master's student of the Department of Urban Planning, representative of one of the teams, emphasized that their concept of forming a single cultural space “Road of Life” was solved by modernizing existing monuments and including practically unknown ones. The team added new functions to the territories of existing monuments and, in accordance with the technical specifications, developed a sketch of a memorial to those killed on Ladoga. It was placed on the new embankment between the “Broken Ring” monument and the Ladoga Lake station. It has become the central part of the composition and represents an arch - a kind of border between the world of the living and the dead - behind which silhouettes of people of different sexes and ages are visible, going into the distance towards Ladoga. The significance of the complex is enhanced by spot lighting, landscaping, and identity. For example, illuminating and beautifying kilometer pillars will allow them to be “built” more clearly and expressively, and the inclusion of a new logo and pattern in such everyday objects as benches, noise barriers, information stands and steles can become a unifying symbol running through each memorial complex.

The team included a tourist information center and bus stops in their project, and connected the monuments with different routes. This way it will be possible to organize an excursion from St Petersburg, first to the village of Kokkorevo, then along the waterway to the village of Kobona with a visit to the “Road of Life” museum and important memorials along the Neva, for example, “Nevsky Patch”, and thus make a circular trip.

First-year master's student of the Department of Urban Planning, representative of another creative team, Anastasia Oreshnikova, said that in the idea of ​​modernizing the complex, they initially focused on trying to solve a very significant problem - widening the road, high traffic, complaints from local residents about noise and gas pollution. The guys decided to relieve it with the help of a duplicate route to Vsevolozhsk and at the expense of public transport, and they insist on electric transport and propose a monorail that would go from the Okhta River to Vsevolozhsk. This way, it will be possible to transfer motorists from personal cars to environmentally friendly public transport, unload parking spaces, and gain additional space. Today, high traffic along much of the transit road detracts from the historical and memorial value of the Road of Life.

“Ladoga lake inspired us with an ice theme, so we chose a design code in bluish shades: benches, two types of stops, one in the form of a “broken ring”, logo, etc. To attract tourists, we developed a tourist information center, walking and cycling routes, a network of cafeterias, one of which housed a small greenhouse for growing plants, the seeds of which were preserved during the siege, often at the cost of one’s own life. This is in memory of scientists and historical events,” Anastasia shared.

First-year master's student of the Department of Urban Planning Vitalina Obozyanskikh added that in developing the sketch of the information and tourist center they started from the architecture of the railway station at the 46th kilometer, now the Road of Life Museum. “We liked the building of the former railway station so much that we borrowed several elements: a retractable roof, large glazing, wall decoration. Everything turned out in the same style: a dynamic element can be seen in the information panels, large glazing in the bus stops and benches. The building is multifunctional: a ticket office, shops for souvenirs and goods necessary for travel, a cafe, a wardrobe, a recreation area, a library and even an exhibition hall and exhibition space. There is a children’s playground, car and bicycle parking,” said Vitalina.

Master's student Leila Dadaeva, a member of the same team, adds that in their project artistic lighting is not only an element of landscaping, but also it has a symbolic meaning. The red light element in the form of a thin ribbon surrounding the “Grove of 900 Birches” illuminates it and makes it stand out in the evening, when the red ties on the trunks are not visible. The bluish lighting with accent spotlights will make the “Baltic Wings” monument more noticeable, and the crossing rays used to spot enemy aircraft will remind one of military events in the sky. Thus, tribute is paid to the memory of projectors (specialists in working with searchlights).

“The “Blockade Traffic Controller” is also invisible from the highway, so we decided to install an illuminated sign here: a concrete slab with the silhouette of a traffic police girl cut through it and a red translucent element symbolizing her flag to indicate the path to the legendary “one and a half trucks.” According to our plan, lamps, flower-lanterns leading to monuments, and illumination of steps will look advantageous. We are replacing the tiled urban surface as much as possible with paved paths with gravel (or other) screenings in order to better fit into the natural environment,” said Leila.

Second-year master's student in urban planning, representative of another team, Ilya Afanasyichev, noted that during the analysis of the territory they discovered many objects related to the road of life that were not included in the competition program, but, in their opinion, deserve attention. Therefore, they set themselves an important task: to unite all the objects of the memorial complex with a bicycle and pedestrian routes. This will be a multifunctional bicycle road, allowing you not only to ride in the fresh air, but also to explore monuments and relax. “While examining the “Road of Life”, we noticed that the Porokhovskoye cemetery also has memorials with numerous burials and decided that it could be considered a logical beginning, so we proposed starting the cycling route from it and marking this place with a stele. The route stretches along the entire Road of Life, bifurcating in some places so that you can visit each monument. We believe that this idea is relevant. Over the past five years, members of the cycling community have developed a tradition, every year on 9 May, of gathering at the monument to Tanya Savicheva and cycling along the Road of Life. Our modernized route will unite 39 sites and allow visit each of them,” explained Ilya.

While analyzing historical maps and materials, the guys identified for themselves the Road of Life as an object that “feeds” St Petersburg, so on their logo they depicted the road in the form of a trunk and branches of a tree feeding a text crown, symbolizing St Petersburg and adjacent to the road cities. The logo also depicts an open ring around the tree - a symbol of the siege of Leningrad. Using the same principle of shaping, they designed new objects: stops, a tourist information center and a cafe in the shape of a semicircle and an open circle, interpreting the image of an open ring, with a living tree planted in the center of the stop. “We also analyzed the development along the road and realized that some objects are disharmonious and have no connection with the meaning of the memorial site. At this stage, we propose to repaint them in more neutral colors and more strictly control the security of the memorial, avoiding the introduction of extraneous buildings into such a significant historical object,” concluded Ilya Afanasyichev.