Offener Wettbewerb | 06/2018
National Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and Revolution of Dignity Museum in Kiew
2. Preis
Preisgeld: 13.000 EUR
ErlÀuterungstext
People generated freedom
The Maidan is a Ukrainian social phenomenon. In 2014, after President Yanukovich attempted to limit civil rights, it manifested as the Revolution of Dignity. The people literally took to building their shared future from whatever was available right there and now, including pavement stones from beneath their feet.
A society that is mature reacts to attempts of limiting its freedoms, or even to risks of such attempts, by rallying and establishing various freedom-installing activities, involving both civilians and authorities into the process.
The complex is built together from materials both substantially and metaphorically related to practices of freedom: images created by anonymous participants of the Revolution; leftover pavement stones from the Heavenly Hundred memorial; even the location used to be a decaying plot of land, unused for decades.
Freedom cannot be gained once and for all. A museum devoted solely to the Revolution of Dignity would eventually become a hollow reminder of an event newer generations cannot relate to.
Freedom, much like responsibility, needs to be carried through time as a regular habit, and the practical appliances of this habit have to be as applicable in the days to come as they are today.
Memory has to inspire action, not just serve as a source of sentiments. This is the main idea behind our project. The complex is designed as a space where freedom can be learned, practiced, and experienced in different ways.
Social Impact
Because of the things the museum is meant to commemorate, it is bound to become one of Ukraine's main spaces for political statements concerning civil rights and freedoms, matters of the country's future and concerns of public memory.
Since this is what the complex will be identified with, we believe its exterior should be inseparable from these symbolic contexts.
The building will be home to a multi-functional space for lectures, seminars and media events, the largest in the district.
Location
The Museum will interconnect several neighboring quarters, fully unlocking their previously ignored potential.
The Museum will also become a focus point between numerous institutions located nearby.
The new network of walkways will stitch together the Parliament, the Presidential Administration, the Government Quarter and the Maidan as a territory of unity and a symbol of direct democracy.
The fence between the Government building and the House of Freedom will be taken down as an ethically impossible symbol. The existing garden of the Government house will become open to the public along with the Museum's courtyard. The upper gallery of the House of Freedom will offer a direct connection with the Government building's side arch.
As a result, the complex will create an almost uninterrupted chain of public spaces from the Maidan to the historic Mariinsky park, incorporating the parks along the Dnieper.
Two more routes will open from the sides of the Museum: one connecting the Heavenly Hundred lane and the Muzeyni Provulok street, and another providing a direct link between the National Art Museum and the Khreschatik subway station.
The latter route will pass straight through the Museum, allowing the House of Freedom and the National Art Museum to hold joint events.
The building can be accessed by transport from Muzeyni Provulok street.
All plots of land related to the overall project are either state- or city-owned.
Information Booth
The House of Freedom / Revolution of Dignity Museum information booth is designed to be a natural part of the square.
The Maidan is already gravely overloaded with various structures and symbols.
The booth will not become another cumbersome addition to the area.
It is carefully integrated into the fabric of the square.
The Maidan has suffered renovations every decade, a tragic counterweight to the country's need for real change. The information booth, an integral part of the museum's philosophy, is set to counter this tradition of replacing substance with symbols.
Thus, the shape of the booth is deliberately humble.
Exterior Symbolism
The shape of the building pays tribute to the first spontaneous memorial created by anonymous people during the Revolution: a pile of paving stones on the sidewalk.
We expressly refused the option to build a structure that would visually dominate the district, opposing the already architecturally overcrowded area of the Maidan.
The building is more of a guiding landmark.
Its key accent is an oversized window visible straight from the Maidan. The inviting light coming from it is an important part of the exterior.
Pedestrians will be able to approach the building from four different convenient routes, each offering a unique impression of the complex.
The road leading from the Maidan includes the Museum into the existing skyline without invading its existing height.
The shape is straightforward and evokes direct associations with pavement stones, yet the building does not intrude the surroundings. The Tower with the oversized window is a visually non-aggressive accent.
The Tower can be seen during a stroll down the Heavenly Hundred lane.
The angle from the top of the lane shows the building's inviting transparent facade and part of the lobby..
The exhibition halls remain obscured behind the trees.
Opposite the Khreschatik subway station is the entrance to the House of Freedom. The Lecture Garden can be viewed through the transparent glass facade.
The angle from Institutska street displays the House of Freedom as a bright, inviting and vibrant modern building.
The building's non-invasive presence avoids forcing any ideology onto the viewers, emphasizing that actual practices of freedom are always voluntary.
The Building
The building consists of five zones:
- horizontal lobby following the length of the facade
- the Museum and the Tower
- multifunctional event hall with its own entrance
- house of Freedom cultural center
- public Lecture Garden stitching the other four parts into a whole
The ground floor open-space lobby unites the zones into a whole, but each of the zones can function independently. Part of the lobby opens into the street.
The Museum consists of independent exhibition halls interconnected with stairs and bridge passages, allowing to use different walking routes to enhance the viewer's experience.
All passages extend through an open and visually complex space with narrow windows symbolizing one's moving through a moment of choice, a stage of uncertainty between different stages of life.
The multifunctional hall is located below ground level and can be used for events by the Museum, by the House of Freedom, or by other hosts.
The House of Freedom is located between Olhinska street and Heavenly Hundred lane, right on the intersection of the newly created routes.
The highlight of the Museum is its open space Lecture Garden visible from all the routes. It is a silent evergreen symbol of eternal life commemorating the Heavenly Hundred.
The lecture hall is expected to be the main magnet of the project, a space open for everybody, a dynamic commemoration making everyone equal as opposed to the Soviet tradition of lighting an eternal flame for the fallen. The spirit of the House of Freedom insists that freedom is about life, not about death; it is about future, not the past, and that improving the present is more important than reflecting on memories.
The Tower
The Tower is an essential yet independent part of the Museum consisting of a dark hall and another hall with a window, located above the first one. Our concept proposes creating a special cool microclimate in the dark hall. A 10â15 degree drop of temperature during one's walk through the museum is a tangible tool that can enhance the visitors' experience.
The upper hall inside the tower, with an oversized window, is the end point of the museum visit as a storyline. It offers to engage with reality from inside the context of Ukraine's century-old quest for freedom.
The exhibition halls
The museum's vast halls are interconnected with stairs, elevators and additional bridge passageways, allowing to hold exhibitions of any size.
Some halls include small balconies opening into the open lecture garden.
The facades
The ground floor facade is made of glass and has several entrances.
The lobby is virtually a part of the street, embracing the passerby and prompting him to come in.
The symbolic base of the museum's facade consists of about 1500 square meters of pavement rock which will be removed from the Heavenly Hundred lane during construction.
Other options we are considering is using pavement stones from different cities and towns of Ukraine, from the squares where the people gathered during the Maidan.
The texture of the facades is knitted into the interior of the exhibition halls, symbolizing the idea that freedom can be built from what lies beneath our feet. A patchwork of different pavement stones is what the visitors will see each time when passing from one exhibition space to another.
The House of Freedom facade facing Institutska street is made of metallic sunscreens, creating an impression different from the one when the complex is viewed from other routes.
Birds
A special part of the Museum is a permanent colony of swifts residing in the back part of the Tower. They symbolize the ancient belief that birds are spirits of the dead, but aside from that the colony can help preserve the local ecosystem which has been deteriorating during the recent years.
Swifts constantly darting back and forth in front of the windows is an integral part of the experience.
Sustainability
The complex employs all necessary works to make it energy efficient.
It's important both environmentally and symbolically: Ukraine cannot be fully free without becoming independent from foreign energy providers.
The Maidan is a Ukrainian social phenomenon. In 2014, after President Yanukovich attempted to limit civil rights, it manifested as the Revolution of Dignity. The people literally took to building their shared future from whatever was available right there and now, including pavement stones from beneath their feet.
A society that is mature reacts to attempts of limiting its freedoms, or even to risks of such attempts, by rallying and establishing various freedom-installing activities, involving both civilians and authorities into the process.
The complex is built together from materials both substantially and metaphorically related to practices of freedom: images created by anonymous participants of the Revolution; leftover pavement stones from the Heavenly Hundred memorial; even the location used to be a decaying plot of land, unused for decades.
Freedom cannot be gained once and for all. A museum devoted solely to the Revolution of Dignity would eventually become a hollow reminder of an event newer generations cannot relate to.
Freedom, much like responsibility, needs to be carried through time as a regular habit, and the practical appliances of this habit have to be as applicable in the days to come as they are today.
Memory has to inspire action, not just serve as a source of sentiments. This is the main idea behind our project. The complex is designed as a space where freedom can be learned, practiced, and experienced in different ways.
Social Impact
Because of the things the museum is meant to commemorate, it is bound to become one of Ukraine's main spaces for political statements concerning civil rights and freedoms, matters of the country's future and concerns of public memory.
Since this is what the complex will be identified with, we believe its exterior should be inseparable from these symbolic contexts.
The building will be home to a multi-functional space for lectures, seminars and media events, the largest in the district.
Location
The Museum will interconnect several neighboring quarters, fully unlocking their previously ignored potential.
The Museum will also become a focus point between numerous institutions located nearby.
The new network of walkways will stitch together the Parliament, the Presidential Administration, the Government Quarter and the Maidan as a territory of unity and a symbol of direct democracy.
The fence between the Government building and the House of Freedom will be taken down as an ethically impossible symbol. The existing garden of the Government house will become open to the public along with the Museum's courtyard. The upper gallery of the House of Freedom will offer a direct connection with the Government building's side arch.
As a result, the complex will create an almost uninterrupted chain of public spaces from the Maidan to the historic Mariinsky park, incorporating the parks along the Dnieper.
Two more routes will open from the sides of the Museum: one connecting the Heavenly Hundred lane and the Muzeyni Provulok street, and another providing a direct link between the National Art Museum and the Khreschatik subway station.
The latter route will pass straight through the Museum, allowing the House of Freedom and the National Art Museum to hold joint events.
The building can be accessed by transport from Muzeyni Provulok street.
All plots of land related to the overall project are either state- or city-owned.
Information Booth
The House of Freedom / Revolution of Dignity Museum information booth is designed to be a natural part of the square.
The Maidan is already gravely overloaded with various structures and symbols.
The booth will not become another cumbersome addition to the area.
It is carefully integrated into the fabric of the square.
The Maidan has suffered renovations every decade, a tragic counterweight to the country's need for real change. The information booth, an integral part of the museum's philosophy, is set to counter this tradition of replacing substance with symbols.
Thus, the shape of the booth is deliberately humble.
Exterior Symbolism
The shape of the building pays tribute to the first spontaneous memorial created by anonymous people during the Revolution: a pile of paving stones on the sidewalk.
We expressly refused the option to build a structure that would visually dominate the district, opposing the already architecturally overcrowded area of the Maidan.
The building is more of a guiding landmark.
Its key accent is an oversized window visible straight from the Maidan. The inviting light coming from it is an important part of the exterior.
Pedestrians will be able to approach the building from four different convenient routes, each offering a unique impression of the complex.
The road leading from the Maidan includes the Museum into the existing skyline without invading its existing height.
The shape is straightforward and evokes direct associations with pavement stones, yet the building does not intrude the surroundings. The Tower with the oversized window is a visually non-aggressive accent.
The Tower can be seen during a stroll down the Heavenly Hundred lane.
The angle from the top of the lane shows the building's inviting transparent facade and part of the lobby..
The exhibition halls remain obscured behind the trees.
Opposite the Khreschatik subway station is the entrance to the House of Freedom. The Lecture Garden can be viewed through the transparent glass facade.
The angle from Institutska street displays the House of Freedom as a bright, inviting and vibrant modern building.
The building's non-invasive presence avoids forcing any ideology onto the viewers, emphasizing that actual practices of freedom are always voluntary.
The Building
The building consists of five zones:
- horizontal lobby following the length of the facade
- the Museum and the Tower
- multifunctional event hall with its own entrance
- house of Freedom cultural center
- public Lecture Garden stitching the other four parts into a whole
The ground floor open-space lobby unites the zones into a whole, but each of the zones can function independently. Part of the lobby opens into the street.
The Museum consists of independent exhibition halls interconnected with stairs and bridge passages, allowing to use different walking routes to enhance the viewer's experience.
All passages extend through an open and visually complex space with narrow windows symbolizing one's moving through a moment of choice, a stage of uncertainty between different stages of life.
The multifunctional hall is located below ground level and can be used for events by the Museum, by the House of Freedom, or by other hosts.
The House of Freedom is located between Olhinska street and Heavenly Hundred lane, right on the intersection of the newly created routes.
The highlight of the Museum is its open space Lecture Garden visible from all the routes. It is a silent evergreen symbol of eternal life commemorating the Heavenly Hundred.
The lecture hall is expected to be the main magnet of the project, a space open for everybody, a dynamic commemoration making everyone equal as opposed to the Soviet tradition of lighting an eternal flame for the fallen. The spirit of the House of Freedom insists that freedom is about life, not about death; it is about future, not the past, and that improving the present is more important than reflecting on memories.
The Tower
The Tower is an essential yet independent part of the Museum consisting of a dark hall and another hall with a window, located above the first one. Our concept proposes creating a special cool microclimate in the dark hall. A 10â15 degree drop of temperature during one's walk through the museum is a tangible tool that can enhance the visitors' experience.
The upper hall inside the tower, with an oversized window, is the end point of the museum visit as a storyline. It offers to engage with reality from inside the context of Ukraine's century-old quest for freedom.
The exhibition halls
The museum's vast halls are interconnected with stairs, elevators and additional bridge passageways, allowing to hold exhibitions of any size.
Some halls include small balconies opening into the open lecture garden.
The facades
The ground floor facade is made of glass and has several entrances.
The lobby is virtually a part of the street, embracing the passerby and prompting him to come in.
The symbolic base of the museum's facade consists of about 1500 square meters of pavement rock which will be removed from the Heavenly Hundred lane during construction.
Other options we are considering is using pavement stones from different cities and towns of Ukraine, from the squares where the people gathered during the Maidan.
The texture of the facades is knitted into the interior of the exhibition halls, symbolizing the idea that freedom can be built from what lies beneath our feet. A patchwork of different pavement stones is what the visitors will see each time when passing from one exhibition space to another.
The House of Freedom facade facing Institutska street is made of metallic sunscreens, creating an impression different from the one when the complex is viewed from other routes.
Birds
A special part of the Museum is a permanent colony of swifts residing in the back part of the Tower. They symbolize the ancient belief that birds are spirits of the dead, but aside from that the colony can help preserve the local ecosystem which has been deteriorating during the recent years.
Swifts constantly darting back and forth in front of the windows is an integral part of the experience.
Sustainability
The complex employs all necessary works to make it energy efficient.
It's important both environmentally and symbolically: Ukraine cannot be fully free without becoming independent from foreign energy providers.
Beurteilung durch das Preisgericht
The Authors reacted well to the juryâs remarks from the first stage of the competition and made authentic efforts to improve on the symbolic nature of their proposal. The new scheme presents a strong composition consisting of seven stacks of monumental âstonesâ that are shifted in relation to each other in order to create dramatic interstitial spaces. These are volumes either literally clad in pavement stones or consist of glass façades with semi-transparent stone screens set in steel. This choice of material takes its lead from the first spontaneous monuments built just after the Maidan Revolution. The highest block is situated in the North-West corner of the site and serves as a monumental tower that closes the perspective at the end of the paths of the newly designed Maidan Monument and provides views from the upper floor towards Maidan and Khreshchatyk. The effect is strengthened by lifting the stone tower onto a glazed ground floor. The entrance foyer is designed in two levels that are connected with wide stairs serving as an impromptu auditorium accompanied by an internal garden. While the jury appreciates this idea, it is also concerned about the image of an atrium garden that can be found as a leisure component in any other public or commercial building. There are also issues of maintenance. The jury appreciates the symbolic monumental character of the sculptural concept of the stone-blocks with narrow gaps providing natural light into the circulation zones but is critical about the internal connections between the different parts of the program. Particularly the location of the lifts and stairs is not legible for the visitors. The choice of structural system seems to double up (columns and walls) and would need optimization. The proposal seems to be energy-efficient using the thermal mass of slabs and walls to heat and cool the building. Overall, the jury appreciates the creative autonomy of the projects and has its doubts an âarchitecture parlanteâ where symbol becomes architecture.