“The Gatchina development project received the most votes of the jury panel. The students who authored the project, proposed a concept for the development of the city as the capital of the Leningrad Region. The development of territories around Gatchina’s museums, palaces and park ensembles provides an excellent opportunity to attract even more tourists. There are also plans to augment the territory’s research potential by establishing branches of St. Petersburg universities and student campuses there,” he said.
Gatchina is famous for its imperial palaces and residencies, urban culture monuments of the 18th and 19th centuries. The highlight of the city is the palace and park ensemble including the Grand Gatchina Palace (1766–1781). The palace is surrounded by several parks: Sverinets, Silvia and Palace Park.
Another landmark is the original Priory Palace (1799), stylized as a medieval monastery.In addition to Gatchina development projects, there were architectural development projects for another four cities in the Leningrad Region.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said he liked all the entries.
“I was afraid that the authors would be influenced by the St. Petersburg metropolis and that their projects for the development of Leningrad Region territories and suburbs would be linked to the development of St. Petersburg. However, all of them are independent projects in their own right,” he said.
“The results have exceeded my expectations. We have very talented young people. They took a glimpse into the distant future, 20–30 years ahead. We administrators, officials and business people should learn from them.”
The architectural development contest as part of the Future St. Petersburg Forum is a research media project designed to attract attention to the development of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, to the city’s architectural future.
The participants are six teams of students from architectural and economics universities working on redevelopment projects under the guidance of professional architects and the supervision of experienced experts.
