Moscow. Nike unveils a sports infrastructure in Gorky park

Kosmos Architect’s is a practice which partners often collaborate virtually as they are based in Basel, Moscow, Bangkok and New York; their last built project is a won competition for Nike Box Msk in Gorky park, in collaboration with Strelka Kb. The park, located along the Moscova river, is known for being one of the epicentres of Moscow’s recent development of green and public spaces.

The building enriches the already intense presence of cultural and art facilities of the area, including the Garage Museum by OMA and Shigeru Ban; indeed, the sport facility will also serve as a cultural hub through curated collaborations.
The structure consists of a three-dimensional metal lattice inspired by the city’s modernist districts of panel houses and to korobkas – literally “box” in Russian – defined by the architects as “courtyard playgrounds, caged by protective fences, a typical urban detail of any periphery of a Russian city.” This design choice enables the modular structure to constantly establish visual connections from the inside of the building to the outside, and vice versa. This visual transparency is combined to an extreme flexibility of the interiors which can be partitioned according to the events taking place under its roof. A rubber magenta flooring for sport activities has been chosen for both the interiors and the surrounding playground creating a spatial continuity. The rooftop of Nike Box Msk is accessible and can be used for sport activities as well as for public events.