Parc Archstoyanie
Since the early 2000s, a collective of architects and artists based in Moscow has been developing an open-air art museum in the village of Nikola-Lenivets, located 350 km from Moscow. Each year, the Archstoyanie Festival draws thousands of visitors who discover large-scale artworks produced by artists in residence and embedded within a vast rural landscape.
Since 2008, Wagon Landscaping has been involved in the transformation of approximately 150 hectares of former agricultural meadows, gradually colonised by pioneer woodland, into a large-scale sculpture park. The project is rooted in a careful reading of the site. The geometry of former cultivated plots, their gradual abandonment and the spontaneous dynamics of forest regeneration provide the underlying structure of the park.
No new planting has been introduced. The landscape is shaped through selective clearing within the young woodland, gradually revealing paths, clearings and groves. The strong growth rate of pioneer species—up to 80 cm per year—allows the spatial structure of the park to emerge quickly. Over time, new sculptures are installed in dialogue with this evolving landscape, becoming part of a living system rather than isolated objects.
The park is conceived as a long-term, evolving landscape. Its management is carried out in close collaboration with foresters and farmers responsible for ongoing maintenance. Two intervention campaigns per year accompany its development, combining differentiated meadow management with targeted forestry actions such as thinning, coppicing, formative pruning and the selection of future trees.
At a broader scale, the project is embedded in a territorial approach that brings together ecology, agriculture, culture and tourism, contributing to the long-term development and identity of the region.
The park is structured by a main axis that organises movement through a sequence of contrasting atmospheres—open fields, meadows, young forests, woodland edges and clearings. Carefully designed wooden furniture and decks punctuate the route, reinforcing the spatial structure and offering places to pause and observe. The project relies on local agricultural and forestry knowledge, favouring simple, robust solutions that are easy to build, maintain and adapt over time.