It's been a long time since I have practiced pure architectural work, I used to practice regularly but now my working track is different from pure architectural practice. This small break is normal I think because I am trying to stabilize my life. I am a little bit out of track from the pure architecture for now but I didn't leave it behind completely.
Kharkiv is such a city where you will only see the Soviet Architectural era. From Byzantine architecture to Neo-classical and soviet mixture, everything you will find here. After a lot of war destruction and renovation, the city architecture has become a fusion. Some part of Kharkiv is still old following soviet era, some part neo-classical that had developed after war and some part of the city is developing following contemporary architecture.
AVE Plaza, Kharkiv, Ukraine...
Ave Plaza (2003-2011) is a shopping mall and business center, basically multipurpose commercial building. This center is located at the lung of Kharkiv city, a very dominant location in Kharkiv and an expensive location too. The street/area name is Sumska St, the longest street in Kharkiv. If I need to explain about the surrounding context then I would say it is a business and administrative context location. Most of the trade centers, government administrations are located here.
From this picture, you will easily understand the zoning and location. I have marked the spot where the Ave plaza built form is located. You will also see the prominent street Sumskaya and other commercial built forms as well. Surrounding building context are ancient, most of the buildings are from the USSR period, some are a fusion of soviet and neoclassical. There is one restriction, you can't propose a highrise commercial building here.
Honestly speaking this is not my go-to shopping mall. People come here for specific purposes. The first 4 commercial well-circulated floors provide access to numerous facilities and slowly the building became a new commercial hub of the city.
Though my opinion is completely opposite after visiting the mall. Of course, business section floors are doing great, but the shopping mall is a complete fail project in my opinion.
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Last Christmas I went there, the mall itself is beautiful and it was nicely decorated for the Christmas celebration. After crossing the entrance, you will introduce yourself with a large cylindrical form spotted in the middle of the mother form. Also, you will see a nice glass box elevator and purely visible circulation on each floor. The most interesting fact is the whole cylinder form got support from three columns only I mean 3 columns are supporting the whole cylinder form.
The structure of the building is steel, truss and glass are playing a vital role here for visibility. From the ground floor, you will see the large full height space of the 4th floor. The cylindrical form is basically ellipse-shaped, so somehow the entire circulation and form is an elliptical shape. In simple words, it seems like an egg...To me, this is the best part to see the use and example of the elliptical shape. Very simple but looks dynamic...
The freestanding glass bridges connect the elliptical form with the corridors/circulation spaces, so it is easily accessible from one side to another.
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These pictures will help you to understand the relation of form, shape, and circulation. The ground floor has some shops as well as the food court. The pattern of the tiles is different and the food court can be easily identified from the top floor. During Christmas, the mall looks festive and clumsy as well, a little bit chaotic in my opinion but it feels good to see Christmas celebrations.
Let's talk about these free-flowing elements. They are basically there for decorative purposes, made of frosted glass to break the monotony of the circulation. These elements catch someone's eye instantly and instead of getting an impression of monotonous solid form, people get an idea of dynamic form. These elements make people curious too.
Several strong glasses holding angular screws with strong strings are holding each of these glass plains and helps to hold the plain in place. the strings seem invisible so to easily find out, you have to check the joints.
Here is the joint of the railing and how glasses are being placed and attached to the railing.
When I saw this building form for the first time I was amazed but not anymore. There is more dynamic work and construction has been happening here and this architecture is becoming now ancient. Once upon a time it was one of the modern commercial buildings in Kharkiv but not anymore.
The city is developing and many new themes and structures are being introduced nowadays. Some are dynamic, some are thematic and some are contemporary with modern structures and elements. It will stay as a business center but I have a highly doubt about the future of the shopping mall sector...
Check out the Video if you wanna know more:
What do you think about the interior?? About the Shopping Mall?
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