Balbek bureau transformed an 175-year-old building into the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine’s journalistic hub: the NewsHouse 2.0.
Project Overview:
- Design Firm: balbek bureau
- Client: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (Suspilne Ukraine)
- Completion Date: February 2023
- Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
- Size: 793 m2 (8536 sq ft)
NewsHouse 2.0 on air is the multimedia newsroom on Khreshchatyk, the main street of Kyiv, designed by the bureau for the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
The building was constructed in 1849 and housed one of the first Ukrainian television studios, which burned down in the 90s. The ceilings of its main hall reach 9 meters, several spots still marked with soot from the fire. This impressive dark space became the basis for the future concept.
Balbek always seeks to collaborate with Ukrainian changemakers, so the opportunity to be involved in creating independent news in Ukraine was a great inspiration for the firm.
It was an unconventional challenge for the Balbek Bureau. The demand for acoustics and sound insulation significantly influenced the choice of materials since walls and floors should not reflect sound. It was also important to work carefully with colors and patterns, which could cause flickering during video shooting.
The NewsHouse 2.0 concept is centered around the newsroom: in addition to the host presenting the news, viewers can observe the work of the journalists in the background. The audience should feel as if they are at the epicenter of events. Overall, the design is concise, balancing the visual noise from equipment and people.
The point of attraction in the design became a cube, in which we placed the television studio: it creates the effect of a room within a room, gathers and consolidates all work processes, and life revolves around it. The metal structure of the cube is covered with drywall and finished with micro cement. The cube’s height is 3.8 meters, with a large part occupied by trusses to which technical equipment is attached.
NewsHouse 2.0 had to accommodate a large team of the Suspilne, so there was a pressing need for adequate space. The solution was a mezzanine above the open space, which added multilevelness: here, Balbek placed another glass cube on the mezzanine, which combines two editing rooms and two Skype rooms.
Contributors:
Architects:
Slava Balbek
Daria Ovechenko
Nata Kurylenko
Iryna Holovata
Sasha Martyniuk
Anastasiia Romaniv
Technical Drawings:
Alina Vovkotrub
Project Managers:
Anna Viktorova
Yana Laskavenko
Procurement Manager:
Daryna Ihnatieva
Photography
Maryan Beresh
