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MONO KIT

art object

Kyiv 2026

Architects: Vitalina Hoshovska, Viktoriia Taradai | Creative supervision: Slava Balbek, Lena Bryantseva | Project manager: Marharyta Nikolaenko | 3D Artist: Valeriy Stefanov | Manufacturing: Zadum Manufacturing Bureau | Photo credits: Viktoriia Taradai

IDEA | CHALLENGES | DESIGN | EXECUTION | TEAM

MAIN IDEA

We brought monobank’s iconic mascot out of the digital world and onto the facade of Pavilion 9 "Whale" at VDNH

Our goal was to create a high-relief sculpture that organically complements the building's architecture and reinforces its nautical concept. The mascot doesn't just sit on the wall—it dramatically bursts through the waves, rising from the deep. These sculpted waves seamlessly blend the 3D element into the flat facade

4,5 × 4,5 м

overall dimensions of the art object

1,2 m

max projection from the facade

250 kg

weight of the structure

5

layers of manual facade coating

CHALLENGES

1.

Integration into the facade plane

To avoid a sense of foreignness and create the illusion of water on the wall, the Zadum Bureau team drew the facade joint lines in wave shapes. The tile geometry smoothly deforms under the body of water and transitions into the volumetric high relief

2.

Immersion depth

The figure's immersion depth in the waves was set to 10 cm. A greater depth would have been unacceptable: the mascot's ears would have completely merged with the water relief, disrupting the recognizability of the signature silhouette

DESIGN

Form finding

In the context of the war, we avoided aggressive sketches where the cat breaks through the wall. It was important to avoid any effects of destruction or sharp shapes, making the mascot's appearance exceptionally smooth. The metaphor of water became the perfect solution: it acts soothingly and logically continues the concept of the "Whale" pavilion. Therefore, in 3D modeling, we focused on organically integrating the cat into the facade through soft, meditative waves

EXECUTION

Manufacturing

The Zadum Manufacturing Bureau team milled the base form from foam based on the approved 3D model. An individual metal structure was designed to securely attach the bulky object

Detailing

The foam was covered with 5 layers of reinforcing and facade mixtures with intermediate sanding. A key decision was to manually draw the facade joint lines directly on the waves so that the object would merge with the wall

Installation

The sculpture was transported in 5 blocks. They were mounted on the facade's metal frame, the joints were aligned, and a decorative texture identical to the texture of the pavilion's wall was applied. The high relief formed a single visual monolith with the facade plane