The Russian War against Ukraine ruins the cities and rich architectural heritage, monuments, and urban space. The lives of all Ukrainians have been jeopardized by this war that continues to brutally consume Ukrainian lives and territory. Over 6 million internally displaced people need affordable housing. While the rebuilding of Ukraine must be Ukrainian-led, it must be supported by an international community of expertise, funding resources, and conveyed with respect to the self-determination of the Ukrainian people.

The seminar Ukraine Reconstruction aims to discuss the current situation of damages of cities, architectural heritage and housing, thus convenes a keynote speaker and a panel of experts on topics of urbanism, architecture, cultural heritage.

The proceedings encompass the rich architectural heritage of Ukraine, lay witness to the present devastation, and support the future hope, both of grass-roots reconstruction efforts, and visionary Ukrainian-led planning for a radical, sustainable, and inclusive reconception of architectural and urban space in Ukraine. The aim of this seminar is to create a space for a dialogue, collaboration, to invite broader awareness and understanding of a war with global consequences, and to build new bridges between faculty, fellows, and students of University of Michigan and Ukrainian architectural education and scholars.

Convening a seminar on Ukrainian Reconstruction provides a unique opportunity for Taubman College to engage in a global design discourse on the ongoing crisis and forefront the understanding of how the architectural memory, heritage and culture of a nation under siege can be preserved.

The student works from ARCH 503/603/823 Architecture of Soviet Ukraine and thesis students of Professor Matias del Campo to be featured in the seminar presentation. This project aligns with the broader mission of Taubman College to serve the community, through dissemination of knowledge, exhibitions, and a greater understanding of global crises with global impact. Moreover, this seminar is aimed to be generative of ideas, visions and designs for the future efforts to rebuilding Ukraine, and Taubman college is at the forefront of the global architectural discourse tackling complex challenges in the intersection of architecture, destruction and restoration, heritage and cultural memory.

Event Timeline
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm – Keynote lecture and Q&A – Oleg Drozdov
5:30 pm – 5:50 pm – break – students speak about their course projects on architecture in Ukraine, poster exhibition
5:50 pm – 6:50 pm – panel discussion – panelists: Oleg Drozdov, Christina Crawford, Andrew Herscher, Matias del Campo, moderator – Oksana Chabanyuk

Speaker Bios and additional information listed at https://taubmancollege.umich.edu/event/lecture-panel-discussion-ukraine-reconstruction/