During the competition, participants underwent an educational program from leading experts: Slava Balbek (balbek bureau), Leonid Kupnievych (civil engineer), Margarita Borisova (urban planning and work with Ukrainian cities and communities), Oleksandr Mazurko (director of “BetonEnergo”), specialists of the State Emergency Service: Oleksiy Dmytryuk and Serhiy Obodovsky, and inclusion expert Yevheniy Svyat. The result was architectural solutions where safety does not conflict with comfort and demonstrates the principle of “dual purpose”.
In the category "Protective structures for open areas and small settlements", the team proposed adapting a school basement so that during the day it would function as a modern learning space with mobile partitions, and if necessary, could be transformed into a safe storage room with convertible beds built into the walls.
Protective structures for open areas and small settlements. Visualization provided by balbek bureau
The best solution from “Adaptation of Existing Space” was the team's concept, which proposes transforming underground passages into safe hubs using modular capsules and transforming furniture that normally serve as information stands.
In the “Primary (Mobile) Shelters” category, the winner was the project for a bus stop on Rusanivka, with solar panels and a kinetic Corten “accordion” on the facade, which allows combining the daily comfort of citizens with enhanced protection for 158 people.
The winners will receive cash prizes of 30 thousand hryvnias and will be included in the future methodological guide for arranging a shelter system from RE:Ukraine SheltersThe Nova Ukraine International Charitable Foundation will implement one of the project solutions together with its authors within 6 months.
“We understand that war is a long-term thing, and shelters must be dignified. Shelterscape is a step towards forming a new architectural honesty. It was important for us to hear how young people see safe space,” the RE:Ukraine Shelters team notes.
Earlier we wrote that balbek bureau is developing a modern approach to organizing bomb shelters in Ukraine. The RE:Ukraine Shelters project was presented as part of the initiative. It aims to create safe, functional, and comfortable shelters that take into account international experience and the current needs of Ukrainians.
See also:
balbek bureau will design a bistro for the Kryla Karpaty by Edem resort
balbek bureau announces the all-Ukrainian student competition Shelterscape