Located 20 km to the south from Kyiv, PM Campus embodies a vision of a corporate campus for an IT company built on the principles of sustainable community. The project restores the idea of cohabitation by introducing a holistic environment that fosters professional and personal growth. Soft zoning combined with hard infrastructure that is hidden underground strengthen coherence and open nature of space. To support data-driven design, PM Campus is continued in the Minecraft reality to engage with employees and collect their feedback.

Intention

12 ingredients are in the core of PM Campus: housing, work, community, nature, health and wellbeing, food, sport, education, culture, mobility, safety and engineering solutions. The project restores independent living by introducing a holistic environment that fosters professional and personal growth. The flexibility of spaces and their multi-usage drives an open and inclusive philosophy that can be experienced in an individual manner. Our Data-based driven design was based on numerous interviews conducted by our research team, resulting in a deep understanding of the motivations of future users. These findings were translated into solutions based on computational analysis.

Inherent values

Valley: Building mass geometry forms a spread out valley. Its functions are threaded on the axis of the main alley, shaping a polycentric neighbourhood. Barrier-free environment with a mix of functions offers openness and transparency not only to the inhabitants, but also to neighbours. The valley creates an amphitheatre for life, allowing visitors and residents to participate in daily routine. 

Sharing: To support a community spirit, a variety of shared spaces have been implemented in accommodation facilities, mobility options and leisure activities. 

Walkable city: Initially 1 kilometre long, the artificial island offers an ideal scale for pedestrian usage. To strengthen its coherence and open nature, the project hid all the hard infrastructure underground - including cars and public transport, delivery trucks and waste management, engineering and parking. Vehicles follow a separate pipeline at the core of the island. Clear separation between human and machine activities foster feelings of safety and belonging.

Soft zoning: high adaptability of building structure to cater either office, commercial or housing needs 

Healthy lifestyle: in order to be a self-providing settlement, the campus incorporates  local farming and greenhouses, using every roof as a green growing plot. The food production ensures inclusive participation of community members, enabling them to contribute and feel appreciated, but also to heal and energise while gardening or planting. 

Sport: active mobility is encouraged by the open and high visibility of the area, creating a sense of safety even when it is dark outside. By making a barrier-free environment it becomes inclusive therefore encouraging different groups to interact at various times. 

Recreating biodiversity: since the campus is located in the area that was reclaimed from the river, the objective is to create a brand new ecosystem based on the surrounding environment. Tabula rasa is implemented as a conceptual approach to recreate biodiversity from scratch. The project proposed planting 2000 new trees, including oak groves, mature pine trees and spruces. 

Urban mix: Initially the neighbourhood is created for the IT community, however we encourage a mix of people by creating student housing, coliving, short-term and long-term rental housing for a mix of inhabitants with different ranges of income.

Methodology

The schematic design phase was approved and ready to be kicked off. Due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine the majority of our projects, including this one, have been halted. However it is available digitally in the Minecraft video game,since the idea was to collaborate with employees and keep them engaged. Therefore we can invite guests into the virtual reality of campus and gain feedback and suggestions for improvement.