Completed projects
Landscaping the grounds of the UKRSIBBANK office
Planters, benches and litter bins in architectural concrete for the entrance and the courtyard of a bank office building in Kyiv. Some of the pieces are catalogue models; the rest were made to the dimensions of the site itself.
Project details
- Client
- UKRSIBBANK
- Location
- Kyiv, Ukraine
- Year
- 2019
- Type of site
- Office building, adjacent grounds
- Scope
- Planters, benches, litter bins
- Pieces
- Catalogue models and made-to-measure
What we made
Rectangular concrete planters in two heights stand along the façade and around the entrance: the tall ones hold multi-stemmed trees, the low ones shrubs. They do not merely contain the planting, they form the beds themselves — the volumes are set in a line and at an angle, and the geometry of the greenery comes from how the pieces are arranged rather than from a kerb stone.
Benches are built in between the planters: a timber seat rests on the adjacent concrete volumes, so those double as supports. The litter bins are cast from the same concrete as everything else, which makes them read as part of the composition rather than as street furniture bought separately.
Why concrete outdoors
The pieces stand in the open all year round. The pigment is mixed into the body of the concrete rather than applied on top, so a chip or a scratch does not expose a different colour beneath the paint — unlike painted metal or timber. The surface is treated with a water repellent, reinforcement holds a thin wall in a large mould, and the sheer weight of volumes like these keeps them in place without anchoring.
The matte surface with its visible pores is the character of the material, not a defect. The concrete here imitates nothing: neither stone nor wood.
Catalogue, and size made for the site
Some of the pieces on this site are catalogue models. Others were made to the dimensions the site itself dictated: the length of a run, and the spacing of the supports under a seat, are not the kind of parameter you pick from a list.
This is how we work on other sites too. If a stock model fits, we use it; if it does not, we build a mould for the particular place. Full-cycle production in Kyiv means a change of size does not mean a change of supplier.
Photographs from the site
These categories in the catalogue
We do not list individual SKUs from this site: some pieces were made to the dimensions of the plot, so there is no catalogue entry for them.
A similar brief?
Tell us about the site — the area, the quantities, the deadline. We will tell you what can come from the catalogue, what has to be made to size, what it costs and how long it takes.
Working on this as an architect or designer? Terms for designers