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a space where they could rest and relax,
even bring their families for weekends.
What difficulties did you encounter
during the design phase?
The main issues were really around the
cultural language differences and the
physically distance between us and the
Ukrainians. Another example was trying
to get soil samples back from Ukraine to
Photo
by - HKS ended up being completely
UK,
which
impossible due to licensing issues. Also
finding the right expertise in the country
was a challenge, such an ecologist who was
able to understand what we were trying to
achieve.
How much area does the project
cover in total?
186 hectares, 460 acres.
Did you fly down to the site?
Yeah we did fly to the Ukraine, but it
was during the time when the Malaysia
Airlines Flight 16 had just been shot down.
So there was a little bit of nervousness
around that. Although because it was in
the middle of the country it was a long way
from the trouble, we also took home office
advice which advised to stay away from
certain areas.We were really well looked
after by our client, who offered airport
transfers and other similar things.
Was is just Spacehub working on the
project?
Yes, along with our client’s internal
engineers.
Could you tell me more about why
you added greenery to the project?
Again looking at the context it was really
important. Like I said before it was on the
edge of the great Russian steppes, so it was
really important for us that we respected
that and that we tried to, where possible,
add the right types of habitats that weren’t
at odds with the surroundings. Most of
Ukraine has been turned to agriculture
and you get very high winds there so
the landscape is very much made up
of agricultural fields, large scale native
grasslands and huge shelterbelts made up
of pine and poplars.
We took inspiration from the
September 2018 | Landscape Insight
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