Coworking Space: ololoPlanet in Bishkek

Ololo’s mission is "Less fear, more love". People submit their lives to fear when they lock themselves within the boundaries of their ego. A life filled with love begins with stepping outside oneself. ololoPlanet is meant to remind each of us that we are part of a huge planet Earth. It will remain our home no matter how far into space humanity spreads. We often say we love it, but have we preserved its beauty? Will we manage to preserve its value?
The Kyrgyz are a nomadic people who throughout history have lived in balance with nature. For example, the nomads never left behind any rubbish. Practically nothing was turned into waste, everything was used in the economy – even wool, bales, animal entrails. Alchik is the brightest example. What can be done with sheep's bones? Nomads managed to use it for games and divination. Now zero waste has become one of the main trends in the World. But did the nomads maintain a balance with nature?We at ololo were very fortunate to be involved in developing the concept for this building back when there was only land on the site in 2018. We came up with a concept for the building based on the size and shape of the site, the wind rose in the city, the traffic patterns and the development of the area, including the city's master plan. The preliminary research was carried out by the Rush Data team, led by Raushanna Sarkeyeva. In creating the concept, our compatriot Saikal Junushova, who works as an architect in Switzerland, joined the ololo team led by co-founder Atai Sadybakasov.

When the concept was ready, we organised a tender among architectural firms and selected Igor Tsarik's team to implement the project. Igor became the chief architect, who was responsible for construction, communications planning, and design solutions. Also on the final stage of the project additionally to Igor's team we invited two other design firms, MEL and ASANBEKOVA DESIGN, to decorate the interiors of the different floors. All the work on the ololo side was supervised by Atai, who set the goal to create an extremely diverse space, where everyone would find inspiration for themselves. It is thanks to the division of the work into floors by the talented teams that each floor of ololoPlanet is special and different stylistically. In essence, ololoPlanet is five co-working spaces in one.

Would your creativity be enhanced if it were possible to completely change the environment in a building simply by moving to another floor?


The building was designed in the shape of a letter E, which allowed for windows in each office and open spaces on each floor. This layout created unusual atriums on the ground floor, as well as open terraces on the third floor level

Each floor of ololoPlanet embodies a layer of the Earth:

The ground floor is the ocean, which makes our planet blue
The first floor is the soil, which gives us the basic building material
The third floor, the forest, without whose greenery there would be much less joy in the world.
The fourth floor, the sky, where our dreams lead us
The fifth floor – even higher than the sky, what could it be?
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In this multifunctional space... a miracle will happen. There are times when, in a space that has been thought out to every square meter, you need a little more space for something very important, and that is no longer possible. So when we design new ololo, we always leave a space that will reveal itself once the building is at full throttle. It can be used for exhibitions, presentations, shows, fairs, and shows. But maybe you have an even better idea?

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Every ololo has shyrdaks, some of the most sophisticated felt handicraft techniques. We dream that handicrafts will return to families in Kyrgyzstan. So we decided to demonstrate that, for example, a shyrdak can serve very different and quite practical purposes. At ololoErkindik shyrdaks hang from ceilings to help suppress noise. In ololoOrmonKhan, the columns are decorated with shyrdaks to provide softness. In ololoOsh, shyrdaks hug the staircase, creating an incredibly rich and cheerful vibe.

In ololoPlanet, the shyrdaks accentuate the sporty challange – the climbing wall for bouldering. It is a short, extremely challenging course for horizontal climbing. Unlike other types of climbing, it is completed without the use of ropes, carabiners or other safety devices. Bouldering is one of the most effective ways to tone up your back, legs and arms. Can you climb around corners and through three walls?
This workspace will help you get things done quickly and experience the ololo ecosystem – a radically new environment for innovators. Why do we use such a term instead of, for example, calling you residents? Innovators are brave people; they are the Columbuses of our time. They don't sit in a comfort zone, they take risks to challenge the familiar. They sometimes fail and feel pain and want to quit, but still get up and try to do things differently at least once more. And sometimes they succeed. We created ololo to help you succeed just a little bit more often. Doesn't it feel better to be around other innovators?

On the ground floor, many elements are in the Japanese style – for example, the Andon lanterns from Japan. We decided to combine this idea with Kyrgyz ethnic motifs. Some of the lanterns are reminiscent of "Köökör", the kymyz vessel which has become one of our country's symbols. As you know, one can see great things only at a distance. Would you try to see how authentic the ornaments are from across the street?
Not only are the event announcement screens in front of you at ololo, but also windows into our other creative hubs. These are invisible channels that span distances and instantly create a unified space. Try waving to people in other hubs. One day, we believe, this way you will be able to communicate with people in ololo’s located in other continents. Where in the world outside Kyrgyzstan would you like ololo to open first?

On February 27, 2016, we held our first event. It was an open day at ololo art studio, and 72 people visited us that day. Since then, ololo has served as a permanent venue for creative, intellectual and awakening events. We hope you'll visit this hall often - and spend a lot of time in it. Just look at the ceiling, which features the work of Dmitrij Petrovski and Sergey Keller (DOXA Art-group)! The hall can comfortably seat 150 people at a time and if necessary it can be divided into two equal zones. We have provided the hall with a high resolution LED screen, professional sound system and professional lighting. Now it's just a matter of your imagination.

By the way, how many plastic bottles do you think have found a second beautiful life here instead of polluting nature?
The crowning feature of ololoPlanet's workspace varieties are glass cubicles, which resemble space capsules for freezing astronauts for multi-year journeys in space. Such a layout is very popular with giant corporations, but it has its critics. Yes, we've implemented cubicles, but we don't want people to feel like they're staying in little enclosures, so all the walls are glass. This experiment has been very successful; very often individual innovators prefer these places. Do you have an original idea of how else we could design the spaces?