The use of the main prototypes of the architecture of tourist shelters in the mountains is investigated in this study. The origin of such prototypes is derived from similar samples in the practice of building and are their likenesses, namely: "dugout", "canopy", “alcove (gazebo)", “cowshed (shed)”, "hut", “house”, “farmstead (estate)” "hutsul cottage (hrazhda)", "villa", "inn (hotel)", "container", "shepherd`s hut (kolyba)". At the same time, the "dugout", "canopy", “alcove (gazebo)", "cowshed (shed)", as well as "container" each of them have their own independent tectonics based on a frame scheme by using different roofing and fencing materials. The rest of the above prototypes are rather varieties of residential buildings based primarily on solid wall and frame tectonic schemes. The buildings of mountain tourist shelters considered in this study resemble these prototypes primarily in terms of their external positioning, which create their image. Some characteristics in spatial sense such as positioning, sequence, connectivity, configuration and dimensions of the premises as well as such caracteristicse in constructive meaning as usage of materials, load-bearing capacity, design schemes, etc. refer to these prototypes in the architecture of shelters as well. The active use of prototypes was characteristic of this architecture until about the middle of the twentieth century. In recent decades, the architecture of mountain tourist shelters has been less likely to refer to building and artistic examples of the past, instead it creates new spatial, plastic, and artistic forms for these objects. This is largely due to the latest materials, designs, technologies, and unification in modeling. The actual allocation to historical prototypes concedes a daring technological approach in modeling of the architecture of mountain tourist shelters. Their remoteness from permanent residence and traditional architecture in the valley settlements seems to exempt from the duty to apply traditional forms for this type of architecture.
