As part of Makhno Village Resort, a larger recreational complex by the eponymous MAKHNO Studio, Gnizdo—roughly translating to ‘nest’—intends to provide a place for repose among natural forms. That aim is reflected in the houses situated amidst natural settings, akin to a birds’ nest in the forest. Gnizdo comprises a pair of eco-houses designed symmetrically to fit a suburban setting. Mimicking the form of rock caves, the residences attempt to harmonise with their surroundings to provide a healing living atmosphere.

Conceived as a “hut-mazanka from the future” as detailed in an official release, Gnizdo is inspired by traditional Ukrainian architecture but seeks to reinvent through a fusion with contemporary architectural elements. The construction practices envisaged for Gnizdo resemble vernacular construction practices for Mazanka huts that often employ techniques including adobe construction, using reed for covering the roof and external walls and the use of timber for construction and ornamentation. Gnizdo displays, in iterative stances, several of these vernacular construction practices, including covering its external concrete walls with reed, using brushwood partitions in the interiors, and using wooden beams to support the structure.

Within the main structure, the 'Living Walls' are uniquely employed elements that draw notice foremost, and are suitably featured in both eco-houses. This technique used in the external walls provides a sustainable living environment for the users and also imparts a contemporary aesthetic and outlook to the building. These ‘Living Walls’ are designed using firewood concrete, a sustainable material providing controlled sound absorption and better acoustics in the interiors, while also improving the house’s pest resistance. To further improve the working of the external walls, a layer of reed is used to sheath the house’s concrete skin against prevailing climatic conditions.

The interiors of Gnizdo, akin to “a futuristic cave”, attempt to harmonise the house’s rather primal sentimentality of a dwelling or natural refuge with contemporary sensibilities. Upon entering the eco-lodge, visitors are welcomed to a fairly large living room, designed to induce relaxation while enjoying the natural views of the surroundings through floor-to-ceiling fenestrations behind a hearth-like fireplace. Opposite this setting, a concrete family table with seaters beside and luminaires suspended above seemingly assuming the same, rugged material palette, overlooks the garden space. With the provision of several of these window openings along the house’s envelope, the design seeks to impart a visual, near-spiritual connection between the interiors and the exteriors.

Across the living room, the main bedroom is spatially segregated from the house’s communal spaces using a foldable brushwood partition. The master bedroom becomes a chief showcase of the traditional-modern fusion that the house boasts, with the DIDO sculpture, stated by the architects to be “a totem and amulet of the house” suspended over a rather conventional layout, lit in moody tones, and elevated by the use of traditional Ukrainian design motifs. The textured effect along the bedroom’s rear wall—a beacon of character—is achieved using natural roots covered with plastered clay, imparting a naturalistic hue to the space. The bedroom, like most key spaces in the house, is also equipped with a large window overlooking the outside while illuminating the interiors.

At the other end of this spatial arrangement, two bright and spacious children's rooms have been planned. The layouts of the rooms are mirrored along a brushwood partition wall and each of the rooms is equipped with a wall-mounted study tabletop, an Elephant chair, and suspended Khmara Lamps by MAKHNO studio. Each of the pair of rooms is illuminated by slit windows behind the desk and one-half of an arched window split across the shared wall between them.

Gnizdo develops as a project that is routinely observant and representative of MAKHNO Studio’s design style and philosophies. Similar to other projects by the Ukrainian studio, Gnizdo, in its formulation, outlook and aesthetic decisions as a proposal and conceptual project, portrays a balanced mix of traditional and contemporary architectural and design styles, harmoniously combining a distinctly Ukrainian authenticity with contemporary art and the allure of naturalness from its surrounding environs.