American firm to design park beside Kremlin

A consortium of architects headed up by U.S.-based firm Diller Scodifio + Renfro has won an international contest to design the new Zarayade Park in Moscow, the city's first new park in 50 years, RIA Novosti reported on Nov. 12. 

According to a website for the competition, the park will feature four different zones featuring landscapes commonly found in Russia: tundra, steppe, forest and marsh. The park's zones, which will be organized into terraces, will feature artificial micro-climates that can be manipulated through control of natural light, temperature regulation and wind simulation. 

The park will be developed on 13 acres near the Kremlin that previously served as the site of the Rossiya Hotel. The hotel, once the largest in Europe, was condemned and demolished in 2006. Moscow's chief architect told RIA Novosti that developing the park could cost 10 billion rubles, or about $300 million, which would come from the city of Moscow's budget.  

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