Located on Kyiv’s Khreshchatyk Street, SENS redefines the contemporary bookstore as a flexible infrastructure where bookselling, hospitality, and cultural programming coexist. Designed by Depo Architects together with Vasyl Hryshchenko, the project transforms a 1950s administrative building into an adaptable environment that celebrates the site’s architectural history rather than concealing it.
Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv is the city’s principal civic boulevard, rebuilt after World War II and long associated with public life and cultural activity. The avenue has long brought together commerce, institutions and everyday urban life, providing a fitting setting for a contemporary cultural destination. Responding to this layered urban context, the project draws equally on the history of its setting and the character of the existing building.
The design is rooted in a dialogue between different layers of time.
Existing concrete, brickwork, and exposed structural elements were preserved and paired with a restrained palette of contemporary materials, allowing the original character of the building to remain visible.
The architects focused on material honesty, combining raw surfaces with warm lighting, plywood details, and carefully placed colour accents.
Conceived as a platform for community life, SENS accommodates a range of everyday and cultural activities – from browsing books and having coffee to lectures,discussions and public events.
Open planning and flexible zoning encourage movement through the space while allowing different functions to overlap naturally.
The ground floor establishes the bookstore’s relationship with the city through two entrances and a continuous circulation route connecting the retail area, café, and reading spaces. A dedicated children’s zone introduces softer forms and brighter colours, while quieter reading niches provide moments of retreat within the open plan.
Between the public floors, the architects introduced a mezzanine level that acts as a transitional layer within the building. Positioned between the active bookstore environment below and the event spaces above, it accommodates the team’s office and meeting room while maintaining a visual connection with the surrounding space.
The mezzanine creates a gradual shift from public to private, adding another scale of interaction within the interior.
The upper level functions as a transformable event space organised around a lecture area, an open venue and a more intimate room for smaller gatherings. Mobile partitions allow the layout to be reconfigured for different formats, while an integrated bar supports the space during public events. Rather than prescribing a single use, the architecture provides a flexible framework capable of adapting to changing programmes.
Custom-designed architectural elements – including bookshelves, cash desks, café counters, window seating, balustrades and display systems – were developed specifically for the project and integrated into the concept, creating a unified architectural language.
A bespoke signage system and illuminated lightboxes help organise the large interior, while a continuous yellow resin floor visually connects the different zones and introduces a distinctive spatial identity.
Many details evolved during construction in response to the realities of adapting an existing building and a compressed construction timeline. This iterative process became part of the project’s logic, reinforcing its central idea: architecture that remains open to change.
SENS offers a civic interior that continues to evolve with its users.
By preserving traces of the building’s past while creating flexible spaces for reading, gathering and exchange, Depo Architects together with Vasyl Hryshchenko propose a contemporary model for cultural space in the centre of Kyiv.
Facts & Credits:
Project Title SENS
Location Kyiv, Ukraine
Status Completed, 2025
Architecture DEPO Architects, Vasyl Hryshchenko
Project team Serhii Miedin (CEO, lead architect, Depo), Serhii Skurskyi (architect, Depo), Oleksandra Zavada (graphic designer, Depo)
Photography Andriy Bezuglov
This project was submitted to Archisearch through the “Submit a Story” feature, where architects, designers, and creatives are invited to share their work for publication.