Restorative Housing and Building Community

Architects often contemplate building for the future. But how can architects use their knowledge and imaginations to confront the destruction of communities in war? That is a possible question for the people of Ukraine and that is the challenge of this academic studio. 

The municipality of Kryvyi Rih and Parsons Healthy Materials Lab EU partner Neo-Eco Ukraine have identified eight buildings in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine as possible social housing sites. They asked Parsons BFA Architectural Design Studio 6 to design and propose restorative dwelling in these buildings, using a maximum amount of locally available biogenic materials. Each building would maximize space for habitation, create spaces to rebuild the community and provide underground, protected bomb shelter space for residents. 

Renovating existing buildings for housing has multiple planetary benefits including: reducing carbon emissions; saving materials; preserving of green spaces; preserving social connections and diversified user groups; creating opportunities for transparent inclusive design with the participation of the community; participation of the community in further development and maintenance of the building/adjacent territory; and in this case ample space for innovation and systemic solutions for materials and novel construction. 

Student design proposals address thermal efficiency and expand apartment footprints, as they explore what it means to create post-Soviet Union community living spaces, and how material choices could reflect the local Ukrainian context. The semester was divided into three parts: 

1. Research/exploration/identity
2. Urban studies and program proposals
3. Deep dive into architectural exploration 

The following provides an overview of the work and thinking generated in this studio as a jumping off point for further investigation into what it means to create spaces in which communities can rebuild.

With emphasis on creating healthier places for people to live, students evaluated locally available materials along with reusable materials from the buildings themselves. While Kryvyi Rih is an industrial center, agricultural lands surround the city. They grow mostly grains, meaning straw and seed-oils are readily available for use as biogenic insulation and healthy finishes. In unpaved areas of the city, clay can be harvested and used on interior walls. Around bodies of water, various reeds grow which have utility as roofing material.

Following is an excerpt from every design proposal. For more on each project, please refer to the pdf and related blog posts below. 

FACULTY: Alison Mears and Bless Yee

COLLABORATORS: Project led by Led by HML EU with municipality Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv University-Architecture Professor Anna Pomazanna and students, Architect Victoria Caubet and Neo-Eco Ukraine with input from Ukrainian Friends including Artem Chouliak and Olena Petsyukh

STUDENTS: Aidan Murphy, Megan Chang, Isabella Mino, Vanshika Patel, Ana Isabella Fernandez, Mateo Rembe, Ema Capilla, Oliver Denton, Rucha Kumthekar, Derin Ozkaya, Julia Brand, Jana Al-Sarraj