The stone bicycle and other modern architecture

Several modern buildings are in the centre of my story today. I'll try to show you these buildings from the best possible angles, but I won't insist on this or that assessment. I myself find the evident pluses as well as the evident minuses in these architectural solutions. These buildings look interesting and unusual, but perhaps it made sense to slow down a bit, temper your imagination a bit and show more restraint? Or did they?

The common name of the Polustrovo Business Park unites all these new buildings. These buildings were built between 2007 and 2021. I start my walk in the spacious square in front of the first building, called Benoit Business Centre, but I don't get that in the picture. I will return to this building at the end of the walk to photograph the unusual façade. At the beginning I'm going to walk around the grounds and take some shots of the history of the area.

I walk up to the big tent at the beginning of my walk. This is Upsala Circus, a circus studio for teenagers. This circus came into being as a social project. In its early years it positioned itself as a "Circus for Hooligans". Gymnasts, jugglers and tightrope walkers performed in the city streets, and in the streets they taught teenagers how to juggle and balance on a monocycle. In 2011 a permanent tent was erected specifically for the circus. Circus performances and circus lessons for children take place here.

"I'll never lose my million raptures!" Pyotr, 5 years old.

The circus tent spreads out next to the bank of the Polustrovsky Pond. A few years ago there were no brightly coloured buildings around, and the circus tent was paired only with a tiny yellow and white house on the bank of the pond.

Now this little house looks like an exotic alien against the backdrop of modern buildings, though it is the aboriginal here. The area was once a suburban area, and the pond was a favourite place for relaxing by the water and bathing. The yellow house housed a bathing house. The cafe is now open in this building.

The glass-clad buildings bear the names of the seasons - Autumn, Summer, Winter... The most prominent building in this cluster is the Ferrum business centre. The facades of this building are decorated with corten steel. It's steel that looks rusty and deteriorating, but actually acquires extraordinary strength through oxidation.

After walking along the main street of the business centre, I returned to the Stone Cycle again, to the same square where my route had started. Before taking in the façades of the Benoit Centre, I want to walk up to a low brick building. The building used to be a tram station. It's been under renovation for a few years now, and I'm worried about its fate.

The last site I want to explore in detail is the façade of the Benoit Centre. The façades are decorated in different styles, but it's the façade facing Piskaryovsky Prospekt that catches my eye the most. The huge stained glass windows are based on sketches by the Russian artist Alexander Nikolayevich Benois for the ballet Petrushka.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia