FOCUS – Andreas Kipar

The landscape architect explains the collaboration with the architect Mario Cucinella for the development of the Khodynka Park’s project: an area of 42 acres in the north of Moscow formerly occupied by the military airport.

How did the collaboration with Mario Cucinella begin? As a result of working together for a long time, we have built a good working relationship. I am convinced that a good partnership can only be made through a continuous dialogue between different discipline, for example in this instance Landscape Architecture and Architecture.

This guarantees a good final result, such as between Peter Joseph Lenné with Karl Friedrich Schinkel, or with Ernst May and Leberecht Migge. And last but not least Pietro Porcinai and any number of great Italian architects. We have carried out many competitions with Mario Cucinella, and my studio LAND has a very good relationship with MCA. I remember clearly our work for the Veneto City Masterplan, and approaching the Russian market seemed like a natural progression for our work together. We are both convinced that it is not enough to make a good design, but you must work with nature: there is an important relationship between culture and nature. We asked MCA to join the Khodynka Park project specifically for the architectural parts such as the pavilions and metro station exits.