KYIV – If churches are the symbolical embodiment of God’s eternal existence, then the design of Ukrainian ones “reflect cultural identity in contemporary form,” said Radoslav Zuk, a renowned Canadian architect.
At a visual show titled “The Artistic Path of Radoslav Zuk” on May 24-31 at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture, the award-winning designer spoke of the 10 Ukrainian churches he helped build over the course of his illustrious career in North America and Ukraine.
They have sharp geographic contours, utilize natural light that provide both realistic and illusionary space, and Ukrainian identity that the architect says is “not derived from familiar historical stylistic elements… but rather from more abstract basic characteristics such as, rhythms and proportions of a building’s component spaces, masses and planes.”
Mr. Zuk’s most recent church completed in Lviv 12 years ago was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine for Architecture. Another house of worship, built in 1982 in Calgary, was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Governor General’s Medal. He also has worked on the U.S. Embassy in London and City Hall of Ottawa – Canada’s capital.
On display in Kyiv were the seven churches in Canada, two in the U.S. – one of which is in Kerhonkson, N.Y., near Soyuzivka Heritage Center – and one in Lviv. All in black-and-white, they came accompanied by two exterior and one interior picture, as well as with intricate floor plans. Ukrainian- and English-language descriptions were attached to each exponent.
A native of Ukraine, Mr. Zuk’s work on churches has been characterized by The Architectural Review as revealing “an unexpected freshness and an ability to evoke the vernacular architecture of the Ukrainians Mountains…”
Currently an emeritus professor at the McGill University in Montreal, the architect told The Ukrainian Weekly that he devotes more time now to “theory,… on performing at conferences, on publishing works” about his craft.
The one-week visual exhibition of his works in Kyiv was a case in point.