Zakusala

CONTEXT

Riga is the Baltic’s emergent financial and commercial capital with one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Since the independence of Latvia in 1991, and the subsequent entry into the European Union, foreign investment has flourished, with expanded activity in all significant areas of Latvia’s economy.
Latvia’s geographic position gives it a unique position as a Pan-Nordic center, and European capital at the point of convergence between Russia and the EU.

MASTERPLAN

Zakusala Island presents a very rare and amazing development opportunity.  While the waterfront of Riga is defined by its industrial past, Zakusala offers the possibility to start from scratch and to create a new type of waterfront development where architecture and landscape, local and international, public and private investment, form an integrated whole.

For the master plan of Zakusala we began by identifying the unique features of the site, orientation, adjacencies, access, infrastructure, natural qualities, visual prominence, ownership(s), and from this established a hypothetical zoning framework.

The strategy for development takes as a point of departure the dialectic condition between built and un-built, where real concentration and real openness can be explored while their mutual proximity and synergy maintained. The island is bifurcated by a bridge, where one-half of the island remains a park within the UNESCO ring, and the other allows exploration in new forms of density.
Consolidation reduces redundancy and promotes hybrid programming, synergy between functions, and growth.  The waterfront is liberated for diverse public activity.

The rapidly developing tourism sector has created tremendous pressure for hotel accommodation in Riga. The strategy for Zakusala capitalizes on this need, creating supra-hotels, each with a dedicated ‘perfect’ site – entrepreneurial territorialism.

The hotels are unique destinations; thematic islands that will organize and trigger future development. With the supra-hotels as catalysts for the development, the remainder of the site can evolve quite freely following market demand.

A ‘soft’ zoning is formed through the combination of the magnetism of compact and highly specific urban cores (supra-hotels), programmatic progression (commercial to cultural and urban to sub-urban), hierarchical traffic structure, protected open space, and major outdoor public space.
Inspired by the TV tower at the eastern end of site, a top media park is envisioned – a new synthesis of entertainment, leisure, and production

1. The Red Carpet

The Red carpet is a central pedestrian promenade that acts as a distinct connective tissue to programs subordinate to it. Occupied by a media/exhibition centre, retail, nightlife, cafes and restaurants, it links the most important internal and external public spaces with each other and simultaneously both waterfronts

2. Central Plaza

The central plaza is defined by a landscaped cut between the two phases of the development. With two large pools of water collecting within concave depressions, the plaza has a bilateral existence operating as an ice skating rink in the winter, and a leisure bath/fountain in the summer. The Live arena, accessed from within the Red Carpet has been conceived of as a double sided black box capable of housing performances from within as well as towards the plaza.

3. Waterfront

Along the northeast side of the island is a tree-lined Boulevard. The pedestrian walkway, steps down to provide access to the river, while concurrently marking the entrances to the hotels and Red Carpet. The walkway continues along the Urban Waterfront past the marina and water taxi stop, then gradually narrow to a footpath that follows the water’s edge through the natural park to the tip of the island.

4. Sports Park

A year round hard surface park, with areas designated for a variety of sporting activities. It is accessible to the general public and fitness conscious hotel guests and residents. Embedded into the surface of this park is a collection of small mountains and cliff faces, providing the possibility for rock climbing. At the south end of the park, leaning out over the water’s edge is a place for parking canoes, kayaks, and small boats. This area may also be used to support a very small ferry that transports people back and fourth from Lacavsala.

5. Local Public Spaces
5.1 Circle Surface Park

The Circle Shaped Gardens, with varied surfaces, provides a leisure area for the office and residential units. One may enter the park from the commercial level of the plinth, which makes a connection between the lobbies of the different buildings, the commercial programs and the park.

5.2 Entrances: Spa Hotel/ Entertainment Hotel and Red Carpet

The pentagon shaped patterned ground surface at the grand entrances to the Entertainment Hotel, Spa hotel, and Red Carpet marks the arrival to arguably the most energized and exciting public space in the development. Large canopies cover the vehicle arrival and stretch over the plaza.

5.3 Hotel Gardens (Contemplative garden 4 star hotel)

Flowers and low lying foliage cobine with an undulating landscape to form the hotel gardens.  The path through the garden is defined by its landscape and the intimate spaces formed between the undulations.

5.4 Pool Park  (Entertainment Hotel)

Transformable landscapes surround a promiscuous pool and bathing environment that crosses the boundaries between interior and exterior space.

5.5 Water Garden

The Spa Hotel contains a full length pool with various smaller heated pools and warm pools for use in connection with the treatments offered at the spa. Parts of the space will be covered by a retractable roof. The space connects to a private beach with 6 Bungalows, each with 5  rooms.

DEVELOPMENT VISION

The vision for Zakusala is simply to create a world class leisure, hospitality, and entertainment district for the city of Riga at one of the world’s most exciting and dynamic urban waterfront locations.

Zakusala Island (Rabbit Island) presents a very rare and amazing development opportunity – a virgin condition in a European capital city ideally removed and connected.

For the first time, Riga will have a district dedicated to luxury and entertainment that will provide a dynamic mix of extravagant and affordable experiences for the local population as well as travelers, tourists, conventioneers, businesses and residents. Zakusala will redefine the standard of quality for hospitality and entertainment while providing a progressive and exciting environment in which to live and work.

On a broader scale, the development at Zakusala will be an attractor that will draw in local, regional, international, and intercontinental tourism to Riga and create a major node of activity in addition to the existing attractions found in the Old City/UNESCO zone, Jurmala, and Latvian cultural institutions. Zakusala will add VALUE to the city by not only creating more square meters of city but creating NEW city.  NEW programs, NEW attractions, NEW structures, and NEW experiences will animate Riga and provide a catalyst to a city destined to reinvent itself.

The Luxury Collection provides a wealth of unique and exciting experiences for the population of Riga as well as being an incredible destination for travellers, tourists, conventioneers, businesses, and residents who are searching for something more. Most importantly, the Luxury Collection sets a clear standard of quality for Zakusala and defines the rare mix of offerings and experiences that are possible on this amazing site.

A ‘soft’ zoning is formed through the combination of the magnetism of compact and highly specific cores, programmatic progression (commercial to cultural and urban to sub-urban), hierarchical traffic structure, protected open space, and major outdoor public space.

RIGA
Riga, with a population of approximately 800,000, is the Baltic’s emergent financial and commercial capital with one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Since the independence of Latvia in 1991, and the subsequent entry into the European Union, foreign investment has flourished, with expanded activity in all significant areas of Latvia’s economy.
Latvia’s geographic position gives it a unique position as a Pan-Nordic center, and European capital at the point of convergence between Russia and the EU.

Art, architecture, culture, and leisure make Riga one of the unique and beautiful destinations in Europe. Recognized as having one of the finest collections of art nouveau buildings in Europe, Riga historic center was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1997.

Latvia’s accession to the European Union in 2004 opened the floodgates for the flow of goods, services, capital and labor to the EU member states. Latvia is looking towards improving on a favorable economic environment marked by one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. And while Foreign Direct Investments stocks have recently declined, the cumulative FDI spurred by investments in equity capital has risen steadily in the last 5 years suggesting a strong potential for economic growth.

An even greater prospect for future growth in Latvia is the country’s ability to capitalize on its geographic position, interfacing between Russia and the East, and Europe and forming an economic bridge. Moscow and St. Petersburg, both within 1 hour of Riga, represent a population in excess of 15 million Russians who in the foreseeable future will have access to Europe via Latvia.