Public space
Community center Unity Hub
This public building project for the NGO "Tepla Hora" and Heodezyk Life LLC is located in the village of Cheriv, in the mountainous part of Ivano-Frankivsk region, between Kosiv and Verkhovyna. "Tepla Hora" is an eco-center and a space for recovery, learning, and community development that works with local residents, volunteers, veterans, and internally displaced people. The eco-center covers about 5 hectares at an elevation of roughly 750 m above sea level.
- Type
- Public space
- Location
- Cheriv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine
Overview
The site sits on a steep mountain slope with open views of the Carpathians. One of the main goals was to integrate the new building into the natural terrain and make it an extension of the landscape. The compact dome form responds to the character of the area and the scale of nearby buildings, while the configuration of openings provides natural light and opens up views of the mountains.
Solution
The structural system is based on CLT panels (Cross-Laminated Timber), massive panels made of cross-laminated timber. The technology made it possible to work with the complex geometry of the building, creating a rigid load-bearing structure while keeping timber as the main material of the project. The use of CLT became part of the overall concept of resource-efficient and eco-oriented architecture. One of the key elements of the building is the green roof, which visually continues the surface of the slope and softens the boundary between architecture and the natural environment. The vegetation extends over the dome shell, so the building changes with the seasons. Natural timber cladding on the facades supports this logic and gradually changes under the influence of the environment. The building is conceived first of all as a space for the community: a place for meetings, learning, work, events, and practices. Here, architecture forms not an isolated object but an infrastructure for people to interact. The project is also presented as UA Unity Hub, a community center for rural and remote communities with spaces for lectures, coworking, a children's makerspace, and wellness practices.
