Rebuilding Hope in Ukraine: Student Proposals for Restorative Housing

The student projects emerging from Parsons’ BFA Architectural Design Studio 6 represent a range of thoughtful, grounded, and visionary approaches to adaptive reuse and restorative housing in Kryvyi Rih. Each design proposal was developed in close response to site-specific conditions and informed by on-the-ground research conducted in partnership with local Ukrainian architects and municipal leaders. For more on the context of the studio and the initial building site research, see the first article in this series here. 

Each project responded to a specific site selected by the municipality and emphasized the use of biogenic, reclaimed, and locally sourced materials to maximize environmental, economic, and cultural sustainability. From collective farming models to healing-centered design, students imagined how architecture might serve as a vehicle for recovery and resilience.

SITE 1: Hrytsevtsia St, 3 – Aidan Murphy

Originally an administrative building, this site is reimagined as a closed-loop urban agriculture housing project. Drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s tradition of dachas and post-Euromaidan subsistence farming, Aidan’s design incorporates communal farming, local food systems and composting toilets as integral parts of the architecture. The building is reconfigured into a network of co-living units and productive greenhouses, where food production and daily life are intertwined. Human and ecological resilience are core to the project’s vision.

SITE 4: Katkova St, 23 – Mateo Rembe & Ema Capilla

This dormitory for former factory workers becomes a scalable model for rapid, minimal-intervention adaptive reuse. Mateo and Ema’s modular “structural cloak” system wraps the existing structure, providing thermal insulation and structural reinforcement, creating safe, comfortable apartments without dismantling the building’s core. Their strategy centers on speed, flexibility, and dignity for those displaced by war. By limiting demolition and embracing prefabrication, the design prioritizes both embodied carbon reduction and construction efficiency.

SITE 6: Shkapenka St, 13 – Rucha Kumthekar & Derin Ozkaya

This project repurposes the demolition of a former school transformed into a new neighborhood healing network, featuring housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs), accessible units, and community spaces. Leveraging biophilic design and circular material strategies, Rucha and Derin’s proposal emphasizes accessibility, psychological wellbeing, and community care. The design integrates shared gardens, natural materials and calming sensory environments to support trauma recovery and reconnection. 

SITE 8: Kakhovska St, 23 – Jana Al-Sarraj

Jana’s proposal envisions the transformation of a Soviet-era boarding school into a village-like environment that prioritizes safety, connection, and a sense of belonging. By removing the structurally compromised building, the design introduces light, air, and community-oriented public space into the center of the urban block. Drawing inspiration from traditional Ukrainian villages, the intervention employs locally sourced straw and lime plaster - materials selected for both their ecological performance and cultural resonance with vernacular building techniques. The result is an architecture of care, memory and renewal.

These proposals are more than academic exercises - they are deeply researched, rigorously developed design visions that respond to the social, ecological, and architectural complexity of Kryvyi Rih. Each project poses a vital question: what does it mean to rebuild not only structures, but lives? And to do so with care? 

Together, the student work reflects a clear message: architecture can be an act of repair. In the face of loss, design can offer new possibilities for living - rooted in history, adapted for resilience, and aimed at regeneration. In a time of uncertainty, these visions offer grounded hope.