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Un-United Nations Headquarters is the corridor-only model. Corridor is the infamous domain of informal but real decision-making. It is a symbol of the journey rather than of the final destination.
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Cross section. The building is the corridor-only model, simultaneously a projection of the excavated historical street. Corridor is the infamous domain of informal but real decision-making.
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Un-United Nations Headquarters building acts as a dividing wall but operates as a gateway through its elevated position above the landscape. This gateway builds relationships with both the Eastern and Western worlds.
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Situation: an archaeological site adjacent to the Sevastopol bay in Crimea. It beared marks of many different regime changes and conflicts.
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A projection of the excavated street, the building portrays a contemporary democratic system with a vertical order, superimposed on the historical horizontal one.
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Each facade is responding to its specific orientation and optimized according to the climate conditions.
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The plan can accommodate an assortment of partially unforeseen activities, from round-the-clock discussion corridor to World Art gallery, world library, spa, twitter chairs, etc.
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Un-United Nations Headquarters. Neutral ground for the discourse on the morality of opposing political systems.
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Un-United Nations Headquarters
Lesia Topolnyk. Sevastopol, Ukraine
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Name of work in English
Un-United Nations Headquarters
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Name of work in original language
Neutral ground for the discourse on the morality of opposing political systems
Prize year
Young Talent 2020
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Work Location
Sevastopol, Ukraine
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Author/s
Lesia Topolnyk
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School
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture - Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Young Talent 2020 YT Nominees
Un-United Nations Headquarters
Neutral ground for the discourse on the morality of opposing political systems
Program
Government & Civic
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Labels
Ministry
The project examines the new opportunities emerging within the interlocking realms of politics and architecture. It explores the role architecture can play in absorbing conflict situations in a divided society. Not by aiming for a consensus but through mutual understanding for different world views.
The project transforms the Sevastopol naval base, the main cause of the conflict, into a trade port, positioning Crimea as the gateway to Ukraine and Russia and as an architectural representation of Crimea’s new identity. Greek Agora is an archetype that simultaneously represents dispute, trade and culture. As a contemporary agora, the project introduces a counterpart to the UN HQ, the Un-United Nations HQ. The logic underlying the Un-UN HQ is that an enduring stable unity is impossible in the given situation so that debate is essential. All outcomes of such debate are temporary ‘solutions’, therefore temporariness is a crucial notion. So instead of the Utopian idea of stability, the project proposes a constant instability, a perpetual temporariness of renegotiation. Heart of political institutions, the chamber, has become decor for rehearsed dialogues, while all meaningful decisions take place in the informal spaces. The project develops this political institution typology using a ‘corridor-only’ model. Corridor is the practical space for negotiation and a symbol of the journey rather than of the destination. Un-UN is a neutral arena for settling disputes, providing ground for the discourse on the morality of opposing political systems. The complex is located next to Sevastopol Bay, an archaeological site based on the ancient Greek city grid. The grounds are filled with architectural stratifications of diverse regime changes and nations. The grid itself has remained intact during the city’s entire existence. Un-UN becomes an extrapolation of one of the excavated streets. The building acts as a dividing wall but operates as a gateway through its elevated position above the landscape. This gateway builds relationships with both the Eastern and Western worlds.