Amid war, a digital tool preserves Ukraine’s unique village houses

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, architecture studio Balbek Bureau has been creating a series of social initiatives under the flagship RE:Ukraine.Their different installments focus on the building of a temporary housing system, the creation of a social support and rehabilitation centre, and a series of cultural heritage preservation projects. One of them is RE:Ukraine Villages – an initiative that uses a digital constructor to preserve Ukraine’s rural architecture. To gather data about the specifics of each region, volunteers have been travelling around, and using online tools such a Google Maps, to research this unique material culture. As there was no prior written knowledge on village houses in Ukraine, their destruction by shelling could mean that they are lost forever.

To fill the gaps in academic interest on the subject, RE:Ukraine Villages are bringing their findings to higher education. They have partnered with Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUCA), giving students the opportunity to design 3D models of rural houses (khatas) and settlements.

All photographs featured in this video, unless credited otherwise, are curtesy of old khata project – a documentary project about Ukrainian rural architecture.