Key points – in our brief, #UkraineWorldAnalysis:
There are three distinctive Ukrainian styles: Ukrainian Baroque, Ukrainian modern style, and Soviet Modernism.
The Ukrainian national style emerges in the wake of national revival and the search for national identity, both of which are manifested in architecture. This is exactly what happened with these three Ukrainian styles. This was also true during the Cossack Baroque period. It was also thanks to Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskii and Stepan Kovnir.
And while we are familiar with the church in Subotiv and the Kovnir's building (Pecherska Lavra), both of which are not over-decorated, this stone wall of decor exemplifies the monumental baroque.
Art Nouveau represents the end of the XIX and beginning of the XX centuries, the time of the Industrial Revolution, inventions, and the spread of metal and rails throughout Europe and the world. In Ukraine, it played on national features with the formation of the Ukrainian People's Republic and statehood. Opanas Slastion and Vasyl Krychevsky were not only practitioners, but also theorists of modernity.
This is how we came up with specific hexagonal trapezoidal windows and other elements for Ukrainian modern style. They took the elements inherent in Ukrainian home and church building traditions and combined them with modern technology.
The buildings exemplifying these characteristics the most are the Poltava Provincial Zemstvo building, Kaniv Shevchenko museum, erected by Krychevsky.
I see two possible ways in which the war might affect Ukrainian architecture. If we take the historical experience of how Art Nouveau changed after the First World War, the era of large-scale decoration and expensive buildings and structures was replaced by a simpler, more concise, compact, functional construction and urban planning due to the impact of the war.
In Europe, prefabricated structures are on the rise after the Second World war, and state budgets in Ukraine are encouraging this trend. Just as Le Corbusier built his Cabanon and spent the rest of his life in a 3.66 x 3.66 meter house.
Therefore, in post-war planning, we will see trends towards simplification and functionalization of solutions.
Also, in post-war times, there is a surge of national self-awareness. The topic is increasingly attracting researchers, but it requires funding. For example, some of them are studying the stone embroideries of Nova Kakhovka.
In critical times of history, architectural schools become very important. I would like to highlight two Ukrainian schools that, in my opinion, can bring innovation and self-awareness to Ukrainian architecture:
For example, the students were required to create a model of a fictional animal that could be directed, and the group was tasked with choreographing a dance that this animal would perform. The most important aspect is that it allows future architects to experience a sense of connectedness to space and time, and also to explore different ideas of material and how structures are formed.
During this war, we have many examples of heritage being destroyed as part of our identity.
Alla Horska's monumental mosaics were destroyed in Mariupol. Looking at the photographs that have been sent to us is excruciating. People who were once executed for their national identity are now being killed again because their works were completely crushed.
The Chernihiv youth center has also been destroyed, but it can be restored. It was officially inaugurated on August 10, 1939. It was the Shchors Cinema at the time, the best-equipped cinema in the city.
We also lack information on the destruction of our heritage in the occupied territories, particularly in Nova Kakhovka. Nurturing and developing our heritage and creating a new one is a major task today for architects, researchers, and architectural schools, as well as for Ukrainian society as a whole.
