LUMINARY CENTER
2018, Refurbishment, Total area: 2500 sq.m
Project team: Tamara Muradova, Daria Sutormina / Photographs: Alexey Kalabin
A modern inspiration center is located in Khryug village in the South of Dagestan. Nowadays Khryug population is about two thousand people
Five years ago the charity foundation “Prosveshenie” started to deliver computers to schools of the village and as a result the average level of internet communication in Khryg as well as in other dagestan villages was brought to all-russian standards. And right at that time the idea to create an inspiration center appeared.
Luminary was opened in Khryug village Akhtyn district on the 15th of May 2018. The center operates free of charge for the children aged from 10 to 17 which is about one thousand people
At the moment there are 120 children studying in the center, one half of them lives in Khryug village another part is from the neighbouring villages and the district center. The initial idea of the Luminary center is that architecture exists out of time. The majority of pupils have never been outside their villages, but can have singular cultural excursions exploring Luminary architecture. In the center they can see mosaics of different styles and epochs, where traditional Dagestan architecture is combined with the ultra contemporary elements of modernism architecture made of black metal and glass.
Luminary is located in the apple garden on the territory of about 2500 square meters. Here a lectorium with panoramic glass glazing, a summer amphitheater for the lessons on the open air and an observatory were erected
The main architectural feature of the project is its appeal to nature and magnetic mountain landscapes
Unfinished buildings that had been standing on the territory since 2000 turned into the upgraded main educational building and a saklya turned into the residence for the visitors.
There are big panoramic windows in the center and a volume of the lectorium is represented by a glass pavilion, the landscape is an essential environmental element. The interior of the study space is made in a peaceful contemporary style, where furniture, navigation and infographics are the main accents. There is an observatory, robotics and VR laboratories, a virtual planetarium, a cinema, a library and an artistic workshop in the center.
There is a wind turbine in the garden, it provides power to the fountain and works as a visual educational material for children
The whole educational program is based on online-activities, the internet comes through an independent line with a speed of 560 mb/s. Due to the frequent power outages the solar panels were designed on the roof of the main educational building. In the daytime the center uses the sun energy, in the evening it takes power from the local net, but if the net disappears then in 0,025 seconds the computer switches from the net to the battery.
