In the four months since the initiative took place, volunteers have heard dozens of stories of people who saw their homes destroyed, left chased and expelled from their homeland.
About two weeks have passed since the day the sirens of war were first sounded in Ukraine. when a group of architects from all over the world began to “shape” the idea of ​​an initiative that would find solutions to the housing of refugees arriving from the war zone in Poland. Early March 2022, h Kika Zdiarska, an architect from Poland and a graduate student in the Netherlands, began communicating with old colleagues and fellow students trying to help those refugees who arrived en masse in Poland and were looking for a temporary home. A few days later, more than 30 young women – the architects from Poland, Hellas, Japan, Brazil and other countries had decided to create it ProjectSafeRefuge, their own initiative, which aims to provide answers to the current refugee crisis. Long online meetings of people of different nationalities with distinct cultures united only by architecture but also by the need to show their solidarity, followed each other with the common goal of housing refugees in cities with the logic of integration into the daily life of cities. , and not their ghettoization in areas far from urban centers.
Main objectives of the project, on which the respective groups that have been set up are working, are: the creation of transitional housing units through the redesign of existing plans of mobile units based on the needs of refugees, the reuse of abandoned or degraded buildings (adaptive reuse) located in cities arriving refugees, and their conversion into sustainable housing, and finally conducting educational activities and seminars for Ukrainian students and young architects from Ukraine for the purpose of their education, in order to contribute to the reconstruction of the country when the war is over.
As the 29-year-old architect explains to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, Dimitris Lampriadiswho is one of the participants in ProjectSafeRefuge, their initiative “takes flesh and blood from our common love of architecture, sustainability and the need to find decent solutions to the problems created by war. Each member brings to the group valuable experiences and knowledge that give value to its purpose “, adding that” the design and construction of housing units are based on the understanding of the social and cultural characteristics of refugees, as well as the logic of their participation in everyday life of cities».
Observing the needs that have arisen on a daily basis, the transitional housing has come to the forefront of the members, which will focus on the needs, requirements and limitations of the climate of Ukraine. According to Polish architect Kasia Andosik, who lives in the Netherlands, the goal is to create a transitional housing unit that could be used in the host countries and then relocated to Ukraine so that it can function as a temporary housing facility while the country rebuilt after the war. «We try to propose solutions that are long-term, semi-permanent or permanent for the integration of refugees in safe and healthy neighborhoods instead of creating ghettos or camps as we have seen from previous situations“, Points out, for her part, Kika Zdiarska.
Refugees will play an active role in this initiative as they will be the ones to give the information and data to the volunteers on how they would like the house where they will stay temporarily. «We will try to gather data and information, through surveys, field research, interviews and workshops, in order to understand the needs and living conditions of refugees. Based on this data, we will design a small living unit which will be used by the refugees in Poland and then transferred to Ukraine, it will be able to be a temporary housing unit, while the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities is taking place. Wanting to act quickly and effectively, we are looking at existing solutions that we can improve and adapt to the needs of the current crisis.“, Mr. Lampriadis typically states in APE-MPE.
At the same time, abandoned buildings that will be reused in refugee host cities will be converted into sustainable housing under the remote support and guidance of the ProjectSafeRefuge team. “We offer help from our team of volunteers to architects in the local communities. “Together we can review design solutions to propose projects for safe, healthy and sustainable neighborhoods”, explains Mr. Lampriadis.
For more than 10 hours each week the volunteers meet online evaluating their steps so far and planning the next ones. However, they not only seek to find solutions to the housing issue but also want to exchange know-how with their Ukrainian counterparts. Responding to a call from members of the Student Community of Kiev National University of Construction and Architecture, ProjectSafeRefuge, in partnership with the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Student Union, will support the development of a curriculum addressed to young Ukrainian architects. “Young architects from Ukraine are in great need of specialized seminars related to the reconstruction of their country in peacetime. The purpose of the seminar is to help young architects from Ukraine to develop their knowledge and skills in the reconstruction of damaged buildings. “As an introduction to the project, we also invite students from the international community to prepare presentations on historical case studies of city reconstruction, which will be presented during an online event with students from Ukraine”, underlines the APE-MPE.
In the four months since the initiative took place, volunteers have heard dozens of stories of people who saw their homes destroyed, left chased and expelled from their homeland, taking little of their belongings and leaving years of effort behind to be saved. These personal testimonies were enough to decide to support them in practice through ProjectSafeRefuge. “We want to support them in the process of reconstruction and show them our solidarity,” Zdiarska said.
It is noted that the volunteers have started one crowdfunding campaignto cover the costs of the project with the support and funding of the University of Delft in the Netherlands (TU Delft).
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