Roshen Plaza, Kyiv, UA

Function: Other

Country: Ukraine

Category: Innovative Public Spaces

Firm: maass, InSitu, AER, Buro-O

Architects: Emmanuel Jalbert, Yann Chabod, Sophia Seghroushni, Anne Romettino, Julien Petiot, Anastasiia Stryzhevska, Oleksandra Urtiukova, Artem Dodonov, Oleksii Vavushka, Cyril Matiash, Sergii Vlasov, Uliana Buozhyte, Julia Melnychuk, Olena Vykaliuk, Iryna Makarenko, Hanna Kosharna, Mariia Pakhomova, Iryna Bilokonska, Aleksey Kravchenko

Completion of design: 2019

Year completed: 2020

Nominated by: Oleg Drozdov

Laudation

The phenomenon of this project is that it is located on a quite large area, where a variety of functions coexist, such as: various types of public space (squares, a chocolate museum, a children's recreational center, etc.), a confectionery production hall, and offices. This entire ensemble is located in the traditional transit-buffer zone, which was recently closed to the townspeople. A particularly important point is that this project merges re-visioned industrial architecture in its new interpretation with public spaces, urban transport infrastructure, and new leisure activities.

Project Description

Roshen Plaza is a large revitalization project on the territory of a confectionery factory in Kyiv, including a landscape redesign. To create a new park on the former industrial site, the Roshen confectionery corporation conducted a closed international competition, which was won by the French landscape firm InSitu. The adaptation of the park design, which includes an ice-skating rink and fountain was carried out by the Kyiv architecture firm AER. The facade renovation project was performed by AER. The entire space of the new park was developed along a main path that twists around the ice rink and runs along an embossed brick wall to the fountain in Roshen Square. The ice rink is surrounded by an amphitheater of granite blocks, with trees growing between the rows. The trees act as a barrier against noise and wind while creating a cozy atmosphere around the rink. As conceived by the creators of the garden, the precise lines of the stone elements are in contrast with the deliberately chaotic landscaping. In the center of the park, a former production building has been repurposed. The first floor of the production hall was transformed into a children's recreational center and sweet shop while new offices are located on the upper floors. On the territory adjacent to the park, two green parking lots are being built. A smaller one for office workers, and a larger one for park visitors. In the evening, a video installation by the renowned light and sound artists Les Eclaireurs is projected onto the main façade. Hundreds of spectators come here on summer evenings to watch the show and enjoy the dancing fountains. During winter, the park turns into a Christmas village, with a Christmas tree in the center of the oval ice-skate rink and street food stalls surrounding the rink. The translucent rink fence is dismantled for the summer, and the amphitheater space turns into a park used by skateboarders and cyclists.