Discovering one's manner in Moscow's Gorky Park is extra than simply practical
The park adds a playful twist to navigation with a new system that highlights the area's smaller delights and signage that turns into nightly art objects
Gorky Park, located in the center of Moscow, underwent extensive renovation in 2011 that transformed it from a forgotten wasteland into an “urban paradise”.
The park has recently accumulated more terrain, including the Muzeon Park of Arts, Neskuchny Garden, and the green hills of Vorobyovy Gory. However, many visitors did not explore the original boundaries of the Gorky Park site. Therefore, the Russian design firm Art Lebedev Studio was brought in to help visitors broaden their horizons and find out what else Gorky Park has to offer.
While pathfinding systems must first and foremost be practical, there is no reason why navigating cannot be both fun and functional. This principle is well implemented in the new wayfinding in Gorky Park, which includes useful information such as directions and public transport connections, as well as more humane details such as the depiction of the park's “emotional zones”, where the symbols indicating various attractions are more playful act as the rigid form of many traditional pictograms.
The signage has a more practical function during the day. At night, however, thanks to the backlighting, the characters turn into art objects that show eye-catching graphics, animations, moving image works and even film clips. This makes for a surprising twist that shows how form and function can coexist in harmony.
artlebedev.com