The Vinogradar massif is located on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv and was built up with high-rise residential buildings between 1975 and 1987. Previously, in its place there were vineyards, which, like in Priorka and the Windy Mountains, began to be cultivated by the famous gardener Wilhelm Christer in the city. Even today, the residential area borders on the orchards of the experimental farm “Pushcha-Voditsa”.
In the gigantic concrete spaces that surround the residents of Kyiv, there is virtually no public life. Sleeping areas remain blank spots on the mental maps of citizens who expect from them something more than just the opportunity to spend the night and buy groceries in a store. Vinogradar is interesting in that it was the first (and, unfortunately, the last) area of mass residential development in the vicinity of the capital, which was designed according to the principles of the so-called “environmental approach” – that is, as an artistically organized holistic formation focused on comfortable the perception of its inhabitants. The author of the Vinogradar project, architect Eduard Belsky, wanted to go beyond the limitations created by mass industrial construction.
When creating the district, the entire arsenal of means of expressiveness of mass development, which Soviet architecture then possessed, was used. In addition, to create the effect of contrast in space, landscape design was widely used – artificial height differences, numerous flower beds, lawns, steps and parapets. In the very center of the area, a “public core” was designed – a large pedestrian square with a cultural center that would include a cinema, a pioneer organization, a youth center and clubs. In 1989, construction began on this center, which promised to become a very unusual building from an architectural and visual point of view. The Soviet Union never recovered from the Chernobyl disaster and the huge material costs of its liquidation – the USSR had a couple of years left to “live”… In 1992, work was stopped, the facility was not mothballed and the structure remained standing in the open air. As of 2018, the unfinished cultural center (popularly DK Bomzh) is slowly but surely being destroyed and has become a refuge for drug addicts and people without a fixed place of residence.
Where is the cultural center on Vinogradar?
Georgiy Gongadze Avenue, 20B