MVRDV and Orange Architects collaborate on the NUVO project, a new mixed-use complex to be built in Ukraine’s capital, the team of architects has revealed their design for three of the buildings that will become part of NOVO. Commissioned by Kovalska, the project is now restarting after work was put on hold due to the active conflict in Ukraine. The two firms are collaborating to refine the master plan initiated by APA Wojcehowski Architects.
The mixed-use district encompasses five buildings, linked by public spaces aimed at creating a sense of community. The program combines a business park with residential units and cultural facilities. MVRDV is in charge of designing two of the five buildings, which together will offer over 42,000 square meters of office space. Orange Architects contributed to the design of a 36,000-square-meter building featuring a diverse program.
The two MVRDV buildings set out to provide a highly adaptable space for a changing office culture. The larger of the two features an 18-story tower and an L-shaped floor plan connected to a central plaza. The building’s stepped atrium brings light into the building’s corner and strengthens its connection to the public space. The stepped image is also referenced by the building’s roofline, defined by a cascading series of green outdoor terraces. A smaller 11-story building is located on the northwest of the site, defined by its wraparound terraces and external staircases that maximize the connections between floors.
Both buildings are designed to be highly adaptable, allowing them to change functions according to the needs of the neighborhood. The compact smaller building can accommodate offices, a hotel, commercial premises, or even residential units, due to the provision of demountable building parts. The same flexibility defines the floor plans of the larger office building, ensuring the resiliency of the development in the long term.
In creating flexible and demountable spaces, we have designed spaces that can more easily respond to society’s changing needs and help ameliorate uncertainty brought on by the ongoing conflict. Workers of all types will have access to high-quality offices, while communal areas including green rooftops enable new connections to be forged while providing new perspectives of this vital city. - MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs
Designed by Orange Architects, the third building features a diverse program, complete with a mobility hub for shared cars and bikes at the lower levels, flexible office spaces, and cultural and commercial premises. At higher levels, hotel and residential units complete the offering, with ample collective indoor and outdoor spaces planned to elevate the quality of living for its residents.
Orange Architects has already been working in Ukraine since the year 2003, when we joined the “Architectural Ambulance” workshop in Kharkiv. The NUVO project, which started before Russia’s full-scale invasion, sparked our creativity, given Kovalska’s high ambitions for sustainability and inventive material use. Now we envision the project as a positive example for the rebuilding of Ukraine, with adaptable structures and shared spaces, that can help create new sustainable communities for the future. - Jeroen Schipper, founding partner of Orange Architects
Recently, MVRDV began construction on La Serre, a project that embraces biodiversity in the ZAC Léon Blum eco-district in Issy-les-Moulineaux, just outside of Paris. The office has also announced a collaboration with Space Encounters for the design of a 22-storey residential tower in Amsterdam’s Sluisbuurt neighborhood. Similarly, Orange Architects has completed Jonas’ Residential Building, an innovative housing concept in Amsterdam, and the S-West Complex, a project located in the heart of Strijp-S, just to the north of the center of Eindhoven.
