The garden at the Praga apartment hotel is a Scandinavian island, where the pulse of the iconic Novy Arbat street meets the curve of the Boulevard Ring. All around is Moscow in its prestigious, history-laden guise: the 'Khudozhestvenny' Cinema still holds the echoes of its first premieres, the Arseny Morozov mansion, with its flamboyant façade, recalls a bygone splendor. Right across, the legendary Cosmos Hotel (just as before) amazes with its staggering scale.
The site is located in a low-lying area and adjoins a busy road, which presents the project with a specific challenge: to create a cozy and presentable space at the main entrance, regardless of its proximity to the thoroughfare.
The garden spans just twelve hundred square meters — but within this modest footprint, a whole epoch pulses with life, allowing us to achieve something monumental: giving the landscape back its historical soul. Here, we blended the aesthetics of 1950s–60s Moscow modernism with contemporary design, creating a connection to the past.
The garden is the result of a deep immersion into the history of the place: we studied the architectural heritage of Arbat and the reconstructions of the 20th century. Here, in 1872, stood the famous Praga tavern. In 1978, the same-name restaurant invented iconic 'Bird's Milk' cake — the USSR's first and only patented dessert. We also looked closely at the work of Alexey Ginzburg, the chief architect who was restoring the restaurant's appearance. This became the cornerstone of our landscaping philosophy: honoring the past with care. You see it in the details: brick inserts that quietly tell you the year it all began and who made it possible. Such practice is common in the old European cities. Brass, borrowed from the hotel lobby interiors, became the leitmotif of the garden — appearing in parking zone markings, tulip-shaped light fixtures, details of street furniture, and art objects inspired by the work of Czech painter Alphonse Mucha.
We paid special attention to sound, so we placed a water feature along the terrace: a loud waterfall. It runs along the site, masking the city's constant hum. The plant composition was selected considering site's limited light exposure, with rowans, hawthorns, and serviceberries emerging as the dominant species. Stylish benches grow naturally from the retaining walls. Underfoot, old cobblestones tell their own story, the paving is made of old cobblestones, and in the evening, the site is illuminated by 'starlight' lighting.
This is where today meets yesterday, and every element tells the history of the place, returning 'Prague' its true appearance and creating a territory worthy of one of Moscow's grandest landmarks.
