Streets of Kharkov, 2023. An international competition has been announced for the modernization of the housing stock of Kharkov Economic Development
As part of the new concept of the master plan for Kharkov, the second most populous city in Ukraine, the Norman Foster Foundation, together with the Kharkov City Council, announced an international competition to modernize the city’s residential areas.
Since the beginning of the war, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) has been supporting the Kharkov mayor’s office and the government of Ukraine in preparing for the reconstruction of the city and solving its housing problems. A pilot project within the UN4UkrainianCities initiative will take the master planning process to the next stage.
The competition calls for the development of an innovative modular system that can refurbish existing concrete panel residential buildings and expand public spaces to create safe, energy efficient and vibrant neighbourhoods. The competition is focused on Saltovka, the most densely populated district of Kharkov, where about 400 thousand people live, and more precisely, Northern Saltovka, which suffered the most at the beginning of the war.
Proposals submitted to the competition , should include not only the modernization of residential buildings made of concrete panels, but also the restoration of destroyed buildings. The application must also include the construction of civil defense structures – air raid shelters. lack proper insulation and quality living quarters. Although Saltovka has good transport and road connections to other areas of the city, as well as schools and isolated commercial areas, the almost exclusively residential nature of the area is seen as a growing problem in terms of liveability, safety and sustainability.
After the announcement of the competition winners in October 2024, the selected proposals will be finalized into detailed construction designs.
Read also: