BOARD

INTERVIEW WITH HARVARD UNIVERSITY’S EVE BLAU

Bernd Upmeyer spoke with Eve Blau, who is a Professor of the History and Theory of Urban Form and Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

[…]

Ukraine Research

Bernd Upmeyer: Currently you are conducting a course entitled “Transition as Condition: Ukraine Research – Urbanism, Environment, Infrastructure” at Harvard. What are you exactly examining in the course?
Eve Blau: The research seminar, which I taught at the GSD in spring 2024, was conceived as a pilot project for a larger collaborative research project in development. The focus is on the physical, material, built environment, and with exploring research methodologies for understanding issues and questions relating to sustainable reconstruction. […]

BU: How do you see the future of Ukraine’s cities and what do you think are the potential approaches to reconstruction?
EB: The biggest challenge facing those who are planning Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction is the need to respond to the enormous scale of the destruction and displacement. These conditions require immediate solutions from the design and planning disciplines. One of the most urgent tasks is to provide shelter and community for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons...

… the complete interview was published in MONU #37 on the topic of “Conflict-driven Urbanism”.

Images:

1. Volunteers renovating a shelter for IDPs (internally displaced persons) in Ivano-Frankivsk. Photo by Anastasiya Kubert
2. Above: Destruction: a main street in Bucha, Ukraine, photographed on March 1, 2022. Image by Radio Free Europe. Below: Reconstruction: the same Bucha street during roadworks in May 2023. Image by Radio Free Europe
3. Work in process for a “CO-HATY” housing project in Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine, using strategies of adaptive reuse of buildings. Photo by Anastasiya Kubert
4. Volunteers make the final touch before the opening of a newly renovated dormitory in Zinkivtsi, a village close to the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi in western Ukraine, April 2023. Photo by Oleksandr Demianiv

THE CABANON AWARDED AS THE PROJECT OF THE YEAR AT THE MIX AWARDS 2025 IN LONDON

The Cabanon has been awarded as the “Project of the Year” in the category “Living Interiors” at the “Mix Awards 2025”.

The London-based Mix Awards is the leading awards programme for interior design, recognising the most exceptional projects, products and people across the UK and Europe. The annual Mix Awards celebrate the very best of the products, people and projects within interior design and architecture, with a judging panel comprising key players in the industry.

The awards ceremony took place at the event venue Evolution in Battersea Park, London, on June 26.