THE COLORFUL LEGO-INSPIRED NEIGHBORHOOD IN DANGER IN KYIV

'Comfort Town' was until now a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of kyiv with 180 pastel-colored buildings.

It is one of the most curious scenes that can be seen when landing at the kyiv airport: 40 hectares of cement blocks dyed in the colors of the rainbow that contrast with the gray architecture of the rest of the Ukrainian capital. It is Comfort Town, a neighborhood resulting from an urban planning project made up of 180 low-rise apartment buildings inspired by Lego blocks that make up a small European-style habitat with everything you need to live. Now, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the architectural heritage that makes up these buildings is in serious danger.

According to the architects of the project, the Archimatika architectural firm, the image of the neighborhood is a playful response to the 1950s and 1960s communist-era homes that surround it. In total, there are 8,500 apartments that function as a city within a city, with shops, restaurants, schools and gyms with an image that is culturally closer to Europe than to the country's Soviet heritage. And all with bright and pastel colors.

Walking through its interior, what is most striking is the picturesque image of each street of the complex. In them, the color and the difference in shape of the buildings, which range from 2 to 16 stories high, generate a different effect with almost every step. For this, the architects were based on simple geometric forms, with flat facades in which balconies and decorative elements were avoided, but always trying to avoid monotony through the repetition of 150 standard sections, of gabled roofs (which covered with colored grooved metal plates) and a sliding window system.

Mostly inhabited by young families and urban professionals, a modern and current image has been sought in the neighborhood, conserving the existing green areas that remained after the demolition of the factory that was located on the same site. So that it would not mix with the surroundings of the area, without intervening and in poor condition, an internal circulation was devised, creating a microdistrict with its own life, with conventional streets and numerous patios of a purely pedestrian nature with children's play areas, benches and services.

Source: https://www.revistaad.es/