In fact, immediately after the de-occupation, the Investment Council of Irpen called on architects to join the reconstruction of the city. About 300 architects, engineers, urban planners responded then.
150 architects came to the first meeting, and since then the Irpin Reconstruction Summit project has started. The goal was to restore social and critical infrastructure: schools, kindergartens, children's and youth sports school. All those who responded were divided into several working groups, and in two weeks these groups worked out sketch proposals for the reconstruction of the city.
According to Daryna Katkalo, adviser to the Irpin city mayor and communication manager of the Irpin Reconstruction Summit, despite the fact that 70% of the city's buildings were damaged, as of today, 85% of the residents have already returned to it.
"Some live in temporary housing, some have been given dormitories or rooms, some live with friends and relatives. However, the percentage of people who have returned shows that they want to live in their city, love it, and strive to restore it," says Daryna.
According to her, a third of the infrastructure has already been rebuilt since the deoccupation. Thanks to international aid and funds, investors were attracted for this.
Thus, Lithuania is reconstructing a completely destroyed kindergarten on Miru Street. Another kindergarten on Kyivska Street, which was supposed to be commissioned in the spring of last year, but was damaged by shelling, is being restored with funds provided by the Portuguese city of Cascais. The kindergarten will open its doors in the near future.
School No. 12 — the largest educational institution in the city — was restored by the Socar company. Lyceum No. 3, located in the "Irpinsky Lypoki" district, was completely destroyed, not even the foundation remained. Funds for new construction are provided by USAID.
As a result of repeated shelling of the lyceum, a fire broke out, as a result of which the entire roof was destroyed, and the outer and inner walls of the 2nd and 3rd floors of the elementary school were partially destroyed. In general, the damage and destruction of the institution is about 75%. Photo: IRPIN Help
The speed with which the reconstruction of educational institutions is carried out is not only impressive, but incredibly impressive. The company Signify (formerly known as Philips Lighting) provided the city with about 300 energy-saving lamps and helped restore street lighting.
Signify. Playing with light: how architects use lighting solutions
Restoration of residential buildings remains an acute and painful issue today. Western foundations, international and charitable organizations seek to finance social infrastructure. With the reconstruction of settlements, the situation is more difficult, moreover, investors are often afraid to invest, since the war is still ongoing, and the missile attacks on the regions of Ukraine do not stop.
Photo: from open sources
Although there is also a positive example: with the assistance of the Italian foundation, it was possible to direct funds from the United Nations to the restoration of four apartment buildings in the summer, so that 1200 residents could return to their homes.
Involvement of international specialists
Today, Irpin begins the process of developing a strategy for the post-war reconstruction of the city and creating a new master plan. As Daryna Katkalo points out, among other things, the city authorities strive to prepare properly, so that by the time of victory, the necessary documentation has already been developed and funding has been raised, so as not to delay and immediately start construction.
Therefore, 10 committees will be formed, each of which will be responsible for its direction (this includes transport, construction, ecology, and safety). Citizens are invited to join the committees in order to take into account the opinion of communities: how they see the development of the city for the next 20-30 years.
At the same time, according to the mayor's adviser, an international advisory board is being formed, which will include the president of the Italian Green Building Council Marco Mari, the Italian architect Stefano Boeri, the Chilean architect Christian Wittig, the Dutch architect and urbanist of Japanese origin Hiroki Matsuura (here you can refer to our interview). All processes and interaction between foreign specialists and the city are overseen by the American company Gensler.
"I don't want to call Irpin a victim city." Who are you Mr. Matsuura?
Architects have a vision of how the city will develop. All developments will definitely be discussed with the involvement of the public, workshops will be held, together with the residents of Irpen, they will find out what is missing: parking lots, public transport, etc. However, the vision is set by the international company Gensler.
Currently, experts suggest dividing the city into microdistricts, where each district will have its own infrastructure, its own kindergarten, school, and dispensary. "Irpin was developing like this even before the war. It will be an innovative city of the future, taking into account energy efficiency, climate issues, mobility solutions, active development of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, so that people can move around the city conveniently and do not spend a lot of time on the road to get to the necessary facilities," adds Daryna Katkalo.
What are they planning to do?
We have already written separately about 10 projects that won the architectural competition and will be implemented. You can see what exactly these objects are and what they will look like here.
The project of a new square, which will replace the burned down old market, which won the architectural competition. Visualization: Maryna Danyltseva
For now, we can definitely say that the House of Culture will be restored, a large park will be built in place of the burned down Old Market, and a cultural and recreational center will be built.
The House of Culture in general became a symbolic place: in the summer of 2022, a music video by the band "Antibodies" was filmed here, the song of which was recorded in collaboration with the British singer Ed Sheeran. The Ministry of Culture is collecting funds for the restoration of the Building, according to preliminary estimates, approximately 205 million hryvnias are needed.
Photo: MKIP
Architectural project of restoration of the House of Culture. Visualization courtesy of Irpin Reconstruction Summit
They also plan to restore the stadium. The well-known Ukrainian football player Andriy Shevchenko and the United24 platform joined the fundraising. Currently, the project has not yet been approved, as it is expensive, and the territory of the stadium itself goes beyond the boundaries of communal land. Therefore, technical and engineering solutions are currently being reviewed.
FC Milan and Shakhtar collected 250 euros for the reconstruction of the stadium in Irpen
"Each situation is considered separately. The Irpin Reconstruction Summit, for its part, is trying to organize the work so that everyone can come and do it. How does "ArchKvadrat", which came to us with a ready-made project solution for the reconstruction of a children's and youth school, do it. We liked it the most in terms of cost, quality, and provision, which is why we chose it in the end," adds Daryna Katkalo.
According to her, the possibility of creating a "monorail" project is also being separately considered so that citizens can get from Irpen to the Kyiv metro station by high-speed train and not waste time in traffic jams. Its implementation should have a positive effect on the reduction of traffic jams and the climate in general, but the development of proposals is still ongoing.
What did the bridge over Irpin look like before the full-scale war. Photo: balbek.com
The most heated discussions are currently taking place around the memorial, which is planned to be built near the legendary bridge, where people hid from Russian rockets and shelling, trying to evacuate the city. Photos of those events flew around the world, and the place became iconic.
Photo from the Telegram channel of Anton Herashchenko
The memorial will be an object of state importance. A competition is planned, where the technical task will be clearly defined and what the memorial should be.
However, according to Daryna, the state authorities are currently slowing down this process. The bridge is currently undergoing reconstruction: "Ukravtodor" has started building another bridge next to the destroyed one. However, according to her, this construction does not take into account the peculiarities of the development of the infrastructure of Irpen.
Construction of a new bridge over the Irpin next to the destroyed one. Photo: from open sources
"Our city developed as the cycling capital of Kyiv region, there was a track that was planned to be extended from Irpen to Kyiv, and currently the project of this new bridge does not take into account either the cycling or pedestrian lanes. And no one can cross the road without violating traffic rules," says Katkalo.
Representatives of the Irpin Reconstruction Summit appealed to the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure on this issue. There they replied that they propose to make pedestrian zones on both sides. So the team has hope that changes will be made, on the other hand, this may not happen due to the frantic pace of construction of the new bridge.
Before the war, it was also planned to expand the embankment from the Zhytomyr and Warsaw highways. The project proposal "Bike Circle of Kyiv Oblast" was approved at the level of the Code of Administrative Offenses. At that time, it was planned to create two circular routes: one was to unite the satellite cities and connect them with the capital by bicycle paths, the other big circle was to pass through the tourist spots of Kyiv region. Their length will be about 200 and 500 km, respectively.
"In Irpen, the continuation of this embankment is planned, it would be logical for you to have the opportunity to go down to the embankment from the memorial. The arrangement of parking at the memorial, and access to the embankment, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure must also be taken into account," adds the IRS communications manager.
Another memorial to the civilian victims of the Russian military invasion may appear near the Giraffe shopping center. Its project was proposed by the Chilean architect Christian Wittig. He visited Irpin in June 2022 and currently continues to collaborate with other architects on the reconstruction of several more objects in the city.
Christian Wittig visited Irpin in June 2022. Photo: Irpinsky Visnyk
According to the sketches, the memorial will consist of two parts: the first is wooden stelae with peculiar altars, where relatives of the dead can lay flowers and thus honor their memory. The second part, located next to it, is integrated into the ground and should resemble an eruption from an explosion. "The project combines nature as a symbol of life and a space for the memory of the civilian victims in Irpen and Buch," Christian Wittig explains his idea.
A memorial proposed by Chilean architect Cristian Wittig. Visualization: Irpin Reconstruction Summit
And although there is still a long way to go, and there are certain differences in the vision of reconstruction, restoration and development of the city between the local and central authorities, according to Daryna Katkalo, the main goal remains to make Irpin convenient, comfortable and cozy.
"We see it as a city in which it is comfortable and convenient to live, in which it is comfortable and convenient to work. A kind of Silicon Valley in the suburbs of Kyiv, with industrial parks, developed infrastructure and comfortable residential areas," she concluded.
