Project background and philosophy.

Standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at the Tom River, you inadvertently feel all the strength and spirit of those places that our ancestors once inhabited. The intention of the project was to make a viewer think about the times of megalithic architecture, which ancient people used to erect with no heavy duty construction tools.

Building program.

Each wing of the building has a separate program, which represents ancient Slavonic deities. The uniqueness of the project is that each space has a metaphorical sense of the presence of the spirit of these deities, expressed in a specific space sensation. Thus, we sense the space not only visually, but spiritually.

Svarog hall - the deity of Sun and inner fire (life). Main dining hall with no artificial lighting. The space is oriented towards south, absorbing the most sunlight possible.

Veles hall - the deity of fertility, animal husbandry, wealth, knowledge, wisdom. The metaphorical function of the hall contains grand library on the last floor and a natural forest's reserve with exhibition corridors underneath.

Mara's hall - the deity of death and reincarnation. A grand outdoor "silent" hall for public to gather, to read, to think about. Transparent glass floor from one side and reflective from another, makes a visitor see others below, while the others can't see the visitors of the hall above. This gives a pure "ghostly" afterlife effect of the space. The landscape design symbolizes the burial mounds of our ancestors. The tree in the middle of the hall symbolizes the ability of one's spirit to reincarnate. The 500mm thick and 12m high reinforced walls brings the visitor's viewing attention automatically towards the sky, reminding about the spiritual function of the space.