Rebuilding Ukraine: architecture students collaborate with Balbek Bureau to redesign damaged Ukrainian settlements

Guided by curators, students examine the community's local context—traditional architecture, landscape, and needs—before proposing restoration plans that preserve its historical, cultural, and architectural characteristics.

Rubryka reported this with reference to the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture.

What is the problem?

As of January 2024, direct damage to Ukraine's infrastructure from the war has reached nearly $155 billion, encompassing over 250,000 destroyed buildings. This includes 222,000 private homes, more than 27,000 apartment buildings, and 526 dormitories, according to a study by the Kyiv School of Economics.

What is the solution?

Students of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, together with the architectural company Balbek Bureau, will design authentic Ukrainian settlements that were damaged as a result of Russian aggression.

"It is important that such scientific developments become part of the educational process. Architects who will design the reconstruction of villages and settlements must consider regional authenticity. It is important that cultural memory is preserved after reconstruction – even where buildings have been completely destroyed," the rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Oleksii Dniprov, said.

How does it work?

Oleksii Dniprov says each region of Ukraine has unique historical, cultural, and architectural features that are important to preserve during reconstruction. These include the typology of buildings, the color code, and decoration elements unique to each region.

So, in pairs, students and the project curators analyze the local context in detail: traditional architecture, landscape, and community needs. They took the research of the bureau RE: Ukraine Villages  as a basis, within the framework of which the architects have already studied the features of private housing in 12 regions of Ukraine.

"This allowed us to identify the unique features of each region, which emphasize the cultural code of Ukrainian architecture. The data is freely available. Therefore, thanks to the digital configurator, you can develop your house project by choosing the type of roof and other elements that fit your tastes. Users have already generated over 10 thousand house projects," Slava Balbek, Co-Founder of Balbek Bureau, said.

This project focuses on restoring rural settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Students will develop master plans for Ulakliv (Volnovakha district), Hrodivka, and Mykhailivka (Pokrovsky district) and design cottages for the villages of the Donetsk region—Maloyanisol, Stara Mykolaivka, Mayaki, and the city of Svatovo, which is in the Luhansk region.

The students have already started creating a unified concept for developing the Medvyn community's territories. So far, more than 60 objects have been selected that will be rethought or designed from scratch. This is also part of the educational process.

"It is crucial for us that students engage with real-life projects during their studies. That's why we collaborate with leading industry enterprises and communities. This offers invaluable experience, as students work on actual cases, interact with practitioners and community representatives, and apply their knowledge within constraints such as time," Oleksii Dniprov says.

The project involves the Theory of Architecture and Architectural Design, Urban Planning, and Architectural Environment Design departments. The bureau also brings in additional specialists to train students, and work is ongoing within the discipline of architectural design.

For reference:

Earlier, the Balbek Bureau team expanded the capabilities of its online village reconstruction designer RE:Ukraine Villages, including the Volyn region. Now, users can create virtual houses, preserving the unique architectural features of the area with characteristic local decor.

As Rubryka reported, villages naturally emerge and fade, marking our history. Preserving their memory and showcasing them to the world helps strengthen and maintain cultural identity. This requires venturing into remote Ukrainian regions, connecting with locals, and exploring archives. While not everyone will undertake this task, those who do are driven by deep passion. Learn how these stories are captured in our piece: "Something and someone must remain. They need to be remembered:" Zaneslo v Selo project captures the world of the Volyn village."

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