Centrally located steps from St. Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square and the Kremlin, Zaryadye Park sits on a historically charged site saturated with both Russia’s collective past and evolving aspirations. As a historic palimpsest, the 35-acre site has been populated by a Jewish enclave in the 1800s, later being the location of the foundations of a cancelled Stalinist skyscraper, followed by Hotel Rossiya—the largest hotel in Europe until its demolition in 2007. For five years, this central piece of Moscow real estate—encompassing a quarter of downtown Moscow—remained fenced as plans to extend its use as a commercial centre by Norman Foster were underway. In 2012, the City of Moscow and Chief Architect Sergey Kuznetsov organized a design competition to transform this historically privatized, commercial territory into a public park.