Reka Mira (in Russian: River of Peace) is a development project of local tourism – rafting on the Nerl River between the two ancient Russian cities of Suzdal and Vladimir. The request was to create touristic infrastructure along the way: camping space, shower, toilet, big picnic table, contemplation spot and others. Besides their functionality, the facilities should be iconic and visible from the river.
Reka Mira is a non-profit project which aims to help small villages’ residents apply their skills through the development of tourism along the river where those villages stand. With the budget limits and the amount of work to be done, it was decided to call for volunteers among young architects and students into the process of design and construction. The curators set a series of design and craft workshops for them before the actual design process. Several field trips and research activities were organized to study Russian wooden architecture techniques, especially for flooded areas, and the construction of traditional Russian ovens and glazed ceramic tiles. The design of the tiles was inspired by the research field trip to Suzdal town together with a history expert. Local visual code was translated into a set of symbols which were put into tiles design.
The construction was made during several shifts in 2018 and 2019 mostly by the same people who participated in the design and craft workshops. It was especially helpful for young architects and students who studied material properties in practice. The raft was made in order to build objects on the opposite side of the river. It was used to deliver the construction materials and people.
The construction was constrained by the possibilities of a local sawmill. The available wooden elements slightly changed the initial design and gave all objects a specific look.
The idea was to make the objects visible and recognizable but very contextual, beautifully aged and a bit “wild”. As though they were here for a long time.
The facilities are orientated to be visible from the river and to provide a view when you are inside. For example, the magnificent view opens to the river while you are eating at the big table and the view towards the meadow when you take shower. Visiting the toilet is also quite an experience: the person should climb the staircase from where a forest view for contemplation opens.
All objects were gratefully appraised by local residents. They use this infrastructure even more actively than the tourists.
Office name: architectural studio UTRO
Web page:
utro.cc/
Social media accounts:
Firm location: Moscow, Russia
Completion year: 2018-2019
Gross built Area: 1,5
Project location: Russia, Suzdal and Vladimir Region, Nerl River
Lead architects: Olga Rokal, Ksenia Rakovskaya, Stas Dervoedov
Design Team: in 2018 – Nadezhda Gorovaya, Evgenia Chernisheva, Aleksey Karpus, Andronik Hachiyan, Grigory Markov, Anastasia Ivanova, Denis Kochanov, Ilyas Gilmanov
in 2019 – Ekaterina Ilyina, Polina Weidenbach, Anna Maximova, Nastya Popova, Pavel Nesnov, Masha Kremer, Zhenya Sablina, Evgeny Makarenko
Photo credits: all photographs taken by volunteers
Designers: UTRO /
