Ukrainian architecture firm Makhno Studio has proposed a visitor centre featuring "a bulbous" volume towards the bank of the Dnipro river in Ukraine.

Called Vitryak, the 300-square-metre project is proposed to increase energy efficiency and use of energy from renewable and alternative sources, including wind. 

The studio proposed the new Vitryak project on the bank of the Dnipro river, in the middle of the field with windmills. According to the studio, "Vitryak is the prospect of the implementation of renewable energy technologies that have territorial communities concentrated in rural areas."

"Wind power is one of the alternative energy sources that promote the flexibility of the general system and resistance to threats," said Makhno Studio.  

"In Ukraine, this problem has become more acute than ever, and therefore we have decided to present the Vitryak project," the office added.

The program of the two-storey visitor centre consists of a museum, a cafe zone and a conference hall in the context of a field with electric windmills, a recreation area and a zone of a cafe-bar.

Conceived as a modern visitor centre, the building represents the ideas of the new world – pure and sustainable. The studio sttaed that "sustainable development is the key to our future, as it makes us independent of external factors, gives us freedom and makes us closer to nature."

"The windmill has already become part of the modern landscape, and our project complements this complex with its modern architectural forms," the office added.

The project represents a story about rethinking our potential independence, according to the studio, because the energy received from the wind in its nature leads to complete freedom and flexibility. 

Energy consumption – efficient, economical, innovative, alternative – is a new philosophy that should be used by society, which seeks freedom and withdrawal from energy slavery.

Vitryak is like a concrete bird in the middle of a field with metal giants –  a symbol of movement and free flight. The studio preferred to use white colour to integrate the building into the landscape  - as the main line passes through the field with windmills and ends with a new visitor centre.

The idea of the visitor centre is derived from the discovery of clean contemporary shapes, which define the philosophy of the new movement of modern energy companies – the use of wind-generating clean, zero-waste wind energy. 

As the studio explained, the originality of simple forms provokes discussion. The peculiarity of the landscape is a circular lake behind the main building, over which there is the observation platform with a view of the windmills.

The main block is proposed as the museum, which is designed in the form of a wing, which in the reflected lakes reminds the construction of a windmill. 

To emphasise the horizontal shape of the main block, which is based on the architectural shape in the form of a wing, the visual composition was continued with new quatropods, a unique 3D tile by Makhno Studio.

While the first floor includes the conference hall and cafe-bar area and the interior of the centre - that are executed in light colours, smooth lines to emphasize the connection with natural forms of landscape, the walls are decorated with the studio's iconic  3d tiles – quatropods. 

Large-scale prototypes of quatropods are hanging from the ceiling in the zone of the cafe. The zone with tables is distinguished on one side by lamps Khmara, and on the other by lianas.

The building is proposed to completely have its own independent general energy system and aimed to fully operate on the energy from the wind that is located on the field around it.

Visitors can drink coffee, relax in the recreation area, and recharge their coffee-making facilities, thanks to renewable energy sources. 

"The space of the visitor centre is inspired to rethink our role in the development of energy independence of the country because windmills are one of the most valuable resources for producing green hydrogen and preserving the world's ecosystem," the studio continued in its project description.

"Vitryak is a project about the future, about the knowledge about saving natural resources, for the purpose of increasing the flexibility of the energy system."

The office believes that Vitryak is an important project, as it emphasizes the importance of using alternative energy sources, especially during the energy crisis we have faced. 

The wind will play a leading role in the transformation of the global energy sector, which is why this project is aimed at attracting attention to wind as an alternative energy source.

A new settlement for Mars, resembling a bagel-shaped structure, is another proposed project of Makhno Studio.

Makhno Studio was founded in 2003 by Sergey Makhno. The studio is designing projects intertwining Ukrainian traditions, world trends and the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, the forces of nature, human talent and architectural mind.

All images © Makhno Studio.

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concept Makhno Studio visitor centre