In early autumn, KSE unveiled a new project on its university campus in Obolon: an innovative space featuring semi-transparent pavilions for learning, meetings, and work. The project is the first phase of the new KSE campus. Vogue Ukraine wrote about its concept, innovations, and design.
In September, the Kyiv School of Economics team presented a project of temporary pavilions on the university campus in Obolon – an innovative space for students where modern structures blend with the natural landscape. The pavilions were designed by the architecture firm FORMA. Here is more about the project.
The new campus is located between the Dnipro River and Natalka Park in Kyiv’s Obolon district. Until 2025, the site was a golf club, which, according to local residents, was not open to the community. The new campus will become a public green space open to everyone, with sports infrastructure, a golf course, and a place for students, veterans, and children. It will serve as the base for KSE University’s educational programs, including bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in economics, public policy, IT, engineering, and other disciplines. The campus will feature modern classrooms, engineering labs, workshops, art spaces, greenhouses, and a memorial garden.
The KSE team developed the concept of temporary pavilions as one of the stages in the campus’s development into a modern recreational, educational, and public space. The first pavilion project was carried out together with the Kyiv-based architecture firm FORMA. The frames of the three semi-transparent structures are assembled from the Plettac modular system, which is widely used around the world for temporary architecture and large-scale cultural events. Next to the pavilions are modular shelters that open automatically during air raid alerts. They are available to students, KSE staff, local residents, and visitors to the embankment. “The structures can easily be adapted to different uses – they already host recovery programs for veterans, chess tournaments, summer schools, research seminars, and art events. This project shows that Ukrainian teams are capable of creating innovative and functional spaces even in times of uncertainty,” says Volodymyr Kadyhrob, curator of the KSE pavilions project.
“The pavilion as a typology is associated with lightness, temporariness, and vulnerability. Today, these qualities take on special meaning for us as an exception in an environment where architecture increasingly has to be resilient and protective. The three pavilions are designed for learning, work, and meetings. The very possibility of lightness in this space becomes a gesture toward the future. Their structure remains constant, while their use can change daily according to KSE’s curriculum and needs,” adds Oleksii Petrov of FORMA.
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