Intervention into the ruin

Concept

In September 2020, an important event took place for the Mapa Renovation team. After more than a year of presence in the preservation sphere of the city of Kyiv and painstaking urban research of abandoned spaces, a project presentation event was held with the launch of an online map of valuable abandoned objects of the city.

According to the idea of the event, the presentation of the project about abandoned historical buildings was supposed to take place in a building of this nature. We wanted to show in practice the potential of such spaces for renovation and reclamation to the structure of the active urban fabric. As such a building a former revenue-house was chosen, in which the author of "The Kaidash Family", writer Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky, lived in 1911. Currently, only a part of the wall with a side risalit remains from the building.

The intervention concept involved holding an event around the ruin with its direct involvement as the dominant of the staging. The decoration of the ruin was subordinated to the idea of presenting it as if in an architectural section - with furniture, lighting and decorations that could stand there if the building was functioning.

A fragment with risalit in Bekhterivsky Lane

Design process

Designing the intervention consisted of a series of important tasks that had to be solved. First, it is the choice of the location itself. The ruin in Bekhterivsky Lane attracted us not only for its historical and architectural value, but also for the safety of the organization of the presentation and the availability of a plot of land in public ownership with a sufficient area for the event.

Having received all the necessary permits for the event from the city council, measurements and further architectural design could begin. This part involved both the zoning of the space around the ruin, and more technical preparations in the organization of proper lighting, setting up the sound equipment and the corresponding connections to the power grid.

An equally important part of the preparation was the management of the event itself, from communication with local residents and representatives of businesses neighboring to the site as well as cleaning, transportation and removal of equipment from the event site after.

Architectural design of the event

Realization

A few days before the actual event: lighting testing, seating arrangements and other location-related preparatory work were organized. About 60 guests registered for the event according to the form, and up to 100 visitors were actually present at the presentation itself.

Thanks to fruitful preparation and detailed planning, the event went according to plan and in a friendly and cozy atmosphere. The citizens of Kyiv saw the results of the NGO team's work and learned a lot of facts about the abandoned heritage. The ruin on Bekhterivskyi lane got its star time. We believe that this was the first step on the way to its further recovery.

Location and participants on the day of the presentation