Archinect - News

New U.N. report warns of potential decades-long rebuild for Gaza

2024-05-09T12:02:00-04:00

A new report on the socio-economic situation in Gaza from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has established a baseline for rebuilding as a cease-fire deal that would end the seven-month Israel-Hamas war continues to be up in the air. The findings lay out the most realistic timeline for recovery, which first requires an estimated 37 million tons of debris removal and the construction of temporary shelters for Palestinians who have lost more than 80,000 of their homes since the fighting began in October.

Israel will have to allow five times the volume of construction materials as it had after its two most recent incursions in order for Gazans to regain "normalcy" by 2040. The UNDP stated it would likely take another four decades to rebuild entirely, given the number of damaged residential structures. Around 25,000 buildings have been reported destroyed in Gaza, with 32 hospitals now knocked offline and another 100 schools or universities being completely destroyed, accordi...

Russian attacks destroy acclaimed Ukrainian design academy in Kyiv

2024-03-30T08:00:00-04:00

Various Ukrainian news outlets are reporting the recent near-total destruction of the Mykhailo Boichuk State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv from a Russian missile attack in the morning hours of Monday, March 25th.

"During this morning's attack on Kyiv, as a result of falling fragments of a missile launched by the Russian Federation, the central part of the building at the Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design named after Mykhailo Boichuk was destroyed, particularly the sports hall, congress hall and exhibition center. The premises of the departments and the auditorium of the institution suffered significant damage," a press update from the country's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reads.

Image: Helen Osadch via Facebook

News reports indicated that only two people were injured during the attack, which was part of a larger aerial assault on the capital's Pecherskyi and Solomianskyi districts. (You can read more about the att...

A Palestinian architect looks for a future in Gaza’s rubble

2024-02-05T11:47:00-05:00

Over 60% of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed. But it's also the heritage, the culture, the collective memory. So it's important for us to rethink how to rebuild, how to accommodate one of the highest densely populated spots on Earth. Do we go vertical? Do we go horizontal? You've got an urban fabric. You've got a coastal fabric. You've got a rural fabric. Each one requires a different way of looking at it.

Yara Sharif is the London-based co-founder of the group Architects for Gaza. The Palestinian architect tells NPR the task now is to assemble a society literally of the rubble using the remnants of some 200,000 buildings that have been destroyed and in the most environmentally sensitive ways possible. A top-down solution that keeps Palestinians out of any post-war rebuilding process has been a growing concern for activists, who brought the issue to the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa's attempt to use it to stop the violence in December.

To date, the IDF’s military strategy has razed more than 70% of all residential structures, plus another 20 or so hospitals and approximately 350 schools. Its plan to establish a 23-square-mile "buffer zone" within the Gaza Strip's borders has become another recent point of contention (h/t LA Times).

Over 100 Gaza heritage sites damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes, report says

2023-12-05T13:30:00-05:00

The Spanish NGO Heritage for Peace has published a report on the impact of recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s cultural heritage. The report, released on November 7th, claims that over 100 cultural heritage landmarks have been damaged or destroyed as of publishing. Reports of subsequent damage since November 7th are not yet available.

The Heritage for Peace report lists 104 pieces of built heritage impacted by the latest war, of which 4 have been completely destroyed, 11 have been partially destroyed by direct shelling, and 89 have been partially destroyed by indirect shelling. The list of sites spans mosques, churches, archaeological sites, historical houses, shrines, cemeteries, and museums.

Among the sites completely destroyed by direct shelling is the Omari Mosque, described by NPR as “one of the most important and ancient mosques in historical Palestine.” Meanwhile, the Church of Saint Porphyrius was partially destroyed, described by NPR as “the third oldest church in the entir...

Ukraine has lost almost 500 churches and religious sites since the start of the Russian invasion

2023-02-25T08:00:00-05:00

As a result of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 494 religious buildings, theological institutions, and sacred places were wholly destroyed, damaged, or looted by the Russian military. The Ukrainian Institute for Religious Freedom presented this updated data on the impact of the war on Ukrainian religious communities on January 31 and February 1 during the Summit on International Religious Freedom (IRF Summit 2023) held in Washington, D.C.

The Institute for Religious Freedom reported Russia’s tactic of using churches for military bases and hiding spots. Clergy members have also been targeted as part of the longer-term goal of destroying the Ukrainian language and culture. (The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which accounts for 48% of the survey, famously broke away from Moscow in a May 2022 declaration.)

Graphic courtesy Institute for Religious Freedom (source)

Non-Christian sites afflicted include the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial (which includes a synagogue designed by Manuel Herz) and several mosques. The destruction of holy buildings and other cultural property nevertheless pales in comparison to the waste of life on both sides of the conflict. The latest estimates from the UN human rights office have at least 8,006 civilian deaths in the country over the past twelve months, with the actual death toll of non-combatants likely much higher.

New details emerge for Norman Foster's Kharkiv rebuilding plan

2022-12-29T12:27:00-05:00

New details are emerging on Norman Foster’s proposed master plan for the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Popular German outlet DW has some information on the plan, which Foster and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov have yet to make publicly available following an initial announcement in April.

For now, the plan reportedly entails at least five “pilot projects” and an interior overhaul of the city’s destroyed House of Regional Administration building that is similar to the firm’s reconstruction of the Reichstag by leaving only its existing facade remaining over a modernized interior.

Among the pilot projects, a new science and technology center will be enacted in addition to an unspecified “architectural landmark” at the city’s center and new 6-kilometer (3.72-mile) pedestrian park at the confluence of the city’s Kharkiv and Nemyshlya rivers. Further “Industry” and “Housing” pilots will involve the adaptive reuse of surviving residential buildings and a coal-fired power plant, provid...

Ukraine’s architects look ahead to the challenge of rebuilding war-torn cities

2022-11-21T11:40:00-05:00

Eight months after Ukrainian forces retook the Kyiv suburb of Irpin from Russian occupiers, The New York Times has spoken with several architectural figures from the region on their mission to rebuild the urban landscape destroyed by war.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, 885 buildings in Irpin have been destroyed, while 12,000 have been damaged. 119 high-rise apartment buildings have sustained significant damage, as have 1,483 private homes, resulting in 16,358 residents being left homeless. City officials estimate the cost of completely rebuilding Irpin to be over $1 billion.

Among those interviewed by The New York Times was Mikhail Sapon, an architect who is in charge of overseeing the city’s reconstruction in collaboration with the Irpin mayor’s office. “During this month, we started counting all the damage, scanning everything with drones,” said Sapon, who was himself shot at the...

Getty Trust releases $1 million to help Ukraine's fight to preserve its cultural heritage

2022-11-09T16:50:00-05:00

A new $1 million grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust is being advanced to the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) to ensure the protection of vulnerable cultural sites across Ukraine that have come under fire since the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion began in February.

The new round of funding helps support the existing Ukrainian Action Plan, which has so far allocated some $3 million towards similar projects in the country under threat from the war and impending winter chill.

UNESCO has thus far identified some 204 cultural sites (up from June’s figure of 139) that have suffered some amount of damage due to conflict. The monies will therefore be spent towards implementing climate-controlled storage methods and improving security measures at museums and other cultural institutions, deployment of “preventive conservation methods”, and preparation of stabilization methods for sites that could come under fire in the future.

Related on A...

The cost of war damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure has reached $127 billion

2022-11-08T13:46:00-05:00

The latest analysis from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) on the cost of direct damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of the country puts the estimate at $127 billion.

The report shows the largest share (39.7%) of the surveyable damage comes from residential structures, totaling 135,800 and equal to about $50.5 billion. As is usually the case in a total war scenario, transportation infrastructure was another big target. That category took up another 27.7% of the damage, with roadways ($26.6 billion) and railroad tracks ($4.3 billion) making up the majority of the $35.3 billion total.

Other civilian infrastructure, like education and healthcare, have been targets as well, suffering totals of $6.95 billion and $1.6 billion worth of damage, respectively. That includes some 978 healthcare facilities and a total of 1,270 schools, the deliberate destruction of which is generally considered a war crime under the Geneva Conv...

Kyiv-based Balbek Bureau develops modular refugee shelters for displaced Ukrainians

2022-03-29T16:58:00-04:00

With more than 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country and another 6.5 million internally displaced, architects in Ukraine have been hard-pressed to put their skills to work by creating the necessary shelters and accommodations required for those uprooted by the brutal Russian war machine.

One such firm at the forefront of this effort is Kyiv-based balbek bureau, an award-winning 70-member practice whose peacetime portfolio ranges from retail and residential spaces to corporate offices, hotels, restaurants, and wellness centers. Led by its founder Slava Balbek, the team has pivoted to the refugee crisis with a new project for temporary housing titled RE: UKRAINE.

Rendered image © Balbek Bureau.

The modular town system is meant to provide a modicum of dignity for their fellow citizens via the expedited delivery of an adjustable set of structures centered around four basic elements: private rooms, public recreation areas, adequate kitchens, an...

Shigeru Ban is on the ground helping war-torn Ukrainian refugees in Poland

2022-03-21T13:38:00-04:00

Shigeru Ban had been working with students from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology on the influx of Ukrainian refugees sheltering in a converted former supermarket in Chelm, Poland, where they were able to construct and install 319 privacy partitions over a four-day span. He now plans to send an additional 800 screens to refugees sheltering within their now war-torn country. The gesture has reportedly had a tremendous emotional impact on the wary travelers, whose plight in turn has captivated the 2014 Pritzker winner well known for working with displaced populations.

“They are called evacuees, but they are ordinary people like us,” Ban told a reporter. “They are with their family members, just like survivors of natural disasters are after emergencies. But the big difference is that Ukrainian evacuees are not with their husbands or fathers. Ukrainian men are basically banned from leaving the country. It’s sad.”

Ban and his collaborators from the Wrocław University of Sc...

AECOM pulls its operations from Russia in protest of Ukraine invasion

2022-03-07T15:14:00-05:00

One of the world’s largest engineering consultancies has joined the growing list of architecture firms ceasing activities in Russia in protest of the country's military invasion of Ukraine after AECOM announced it will be halting its operation in Russia effective immediately.

Speaking in a press release, AECOM said its goal was to “ensure the safety, security, and well-being of our teams throughout the region.” The firm indicated that the financial impacts resulting from their actions would be in the $40 to $50 million range limited to the second quarter of the fiscal year only. A $10 million total cash loss is expected as well. The firm currently employs about 350 workers across two separate offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

“We support the people of Ukraine who are facing tremendous suffering as a result of Russia’s unlawful invasion,” AEC...

UNESCO issues statement over the fate of Ukrainian landmarks

2022-03-04T15:37:00-05:00

Unesco said it is “gravely concerned” about damage caused by Russia’s invasion forces in the cities of Kharkiv and Chernihiv and called for the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, including the country’s seven World Heritage sites.

Ukraine currently has seven landmarks on the UN cultural body’s list of World Heritage Sites (not including the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site that was bombed on March 1st, which they also condemned). Odessa and Kharkiv are also members of the organization’s Creative Cities Network. UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay called for their immediate protection, adding that their existence constitutes “a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future.”

Previously on Archinect: 'Barbarism': Russia appears to have targeted Kyiv’s Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial in a potential war crime

The UNESCO statement also called for the “immediate cessation of attacks on civilian facilities.” Russia has been very aggressive in pursuing a highly illegal kind of Total War in which non-military infrastructure such as apartment blocks have come under increasing air and artillery barrages resulting in the death of at least 2,000 non-combatants thus far.

The organization also said i...

The war in Afghanistan left behind a host of abandoned buildings and other infrastructure

2021-09-08T15:25:00-04:00

The Afghan countryside is littered with abandoned and decaying power plants, prisons, schools, factories, office buildings and military bases, according to a watchdog agency, the legacy of the U.S.’s 20-year effort to fund the establishment of a modern Afghan state that could provide security and basic services for its citizens

A reported $145 billion went to infrastructure projects and construction equipment alone. In March, an American taxpayer watchdog group called SIGAR released a report which estimated $6.6 billion worth of buildings and vehicles went misused or were abandoned since the 20-year war began. Architecture in the country is likely to fall into dire straights as the Taliban have gained total control of every province.

The embassy complex alone cost the U.S. over $8 billion. President Bush called the main building a “big, solid, permanent structure, which should represent the commitment of the United States of America to your liberty” at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in March of 2006.

The Wall Street Journal has more on what’s been left to rot here.

Rebuilding Mosul

2020-06-16T15:18:00-04:00

After a five-week lockdown, several conservation projects have begun in earnest in Mosul as part of a Unesco programme aimed at restoring the rich heritage of the war-ravaged Iraqi city’s old quarter. Restoration work funded by Germany has begun on the Al-Aghawat mosque, houses are being refurbished with the aid of the European Union, and the rehabilitation of the Dominican Al-Saa’a church is under way with funding from the United Arab Emirates.

Rebuilding efforts are underway in Mosul, Iraq as part of UNESCO's Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative launched in February 2018.

The program aims to reconstruct not only the heavily war-damaged Old City but also foster social reconciliation and trust in the local population after years under brutal ISIS rule through skill development and education.

A look at some of the Iranian cultural sites that Trump could be threatening

2020-01-06T15:22:00-05:00

Tensions in the Middle East keep escalating after the U.S. President followed his drone assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani with a tweet that publicly threatens to strike dozens of target sites in Iran, including "important" cultural sites, if the country dared to retaliate.

"Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD," threatens one passage of Trump's vague January 4th Twitter post which, as lawyer and specialist in historic preservation, Sara C. Bronin, pointed out in the Los Angeles Times, "amounts to an announcement of an intention to commit war crimes."

Ruins of the Tachara at Persepolis, one of Iran's most important UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Photo: Wikimedia Commons u...

The challenges of urban planning in Kabul: formalizing the informal

2019-05-13T14:37:00-04:00

Barely built for a million people, Kabul, now has close to five million residents with the majority – 80% – still living in informal, unplanned areas [...]. More than one million properties still need to be officially registered, according to City for All, a government urban planning initiative. [...] But while decades of war have destroyed much of the capital, an urban revolution is growing, creating small pockets of peace.

The Guardian's Stefanie Glinski writes about the efforts residents and the local government in the rapidly growing Afghan capital are taking to cope with the overwhelming urbanization, turn informal settlements into formal ones, set urban planning goals, and rediscover architectural heritage and craftsmanship that has defined the region for centuries.

"I don’t want our children to forget about our historical background," the article quotes an Afghan master carpenter. "Both regime changes and war destroyed our country. As Kabul is growing, many modern buildings are put up carelessly. We can’t forget about our architectural history and its beauty."

War-damaged Palmyra prepares to welcome back tourists by summer 2019

2018-08-28T13:54:00-04:00

The ancient city of Palmyra in Homs, Syria, which was severely damaged by the extremist group Isis, is set to have its artefacts restored and be ready for tourism next summer, Syrian government says. “The authorities now have a project to repair all the damage caused to Palmyra's Old City,” say the Homs' provincial governor Talal Barazi [...]. “There are also good offers from the world powers to restore the artefacts and historical value of Palmyra. [...]"

First seized and severely damaged by ISIS militants in the spring of 2015, then briefly retaken under Syrian government control, recaptured again in December 2016 and eventually freed four months later, the ancient architectural treasures of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage site, have suffered great destruction in recent years—called even a "war crime" and "blow against cultural heritage" by Unesco's director general Irina Bokova in 2017.

Preserving Iraq's Heritage: World Monuments Fund partners with Google for new online exhibitions

2018-06-06T16:10:00-04:00

Launched on the Google Arts & Culture platform today, the project includes drone footage of ancient sites and structures like the ziggurat in Borsippa and the Archway of Ctesiphon, 3D models of now lost architecture, like Babylon’s famous Ishtar Gate, and documentation of sites that have been damaged or destroyed by Isis, including Nimrud, Hatra and Mosul.

"Using drone footage, 3D models and videos, the tech giant is working with cultural institutions to make preservation efforts accessible to a larger public," The Art Newspaper reports.

View the Preserving Iraq's Heritage online exhibition here.

Syria Matters exhibition to document the destruction of country’s cultural heritage

2018-04-25T13:48:00-04:00

The destruction of Syria’s heritage over the past eight years is the subject of a significant show due to open at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha later this year. The exhibition, entitled Syria Matters (opens 23 November), aims to explore the country’s centuries-old “extraordinary cultural heritage” against the backdrop of the raging conflict that has seen the destruction of six Unesco world heritage sites under President Bashar al-Assad.

Training refugees to conserve their monumental heritage

2018-03-20T15:43:00-04:00

The problems: how to conserve extraordinary monumental heritage in Iraq and Syria [...]. The issue is exacerbated by the depletion of skilled craftspeople; once the dust of conflict settles, there will be few able to carry out restoration. At the same time, thousands sit in refugee camps, lives on hold, seeking a future. The solution: train refugees to become the craftspeople and conservators of the future. Give them a skill to help restore their nation’s heritage.

Photo: World Monuments Fund.

Learn more about the World Monuments Fund’s new stone masonry training center for Syrian refugees in Mafraq, Jordan (backed by the UK government’s Cultural Protection Fund) here.

Ancient Syrian Ain Dara temple severely damaged in Turkish airstrike

2018-01-31T14:49:00-05:00

Much of the magnificent 3,000-year-old temple of Ain Dara, with its mysterious and massive footprints and a structure that provides clues for understanding the biblical temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, has been destroyed in a Turkish airstrike. [...] Photos and video from the Syrian Observatory and Hawar News confirm that more than half of the temple is gone, including many of the sculptures that ringed the site.

"The temple, one of the largest and most extensively ancient excavated structures in Syria," National Geographic reports, "is famous for its intricate stone sculptures of lions and sphinxes, and for its similarities to Solomon’s Temple—the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem, said to have held the Ark of the Covenant."

International Criminal Court issues ruling in first case of cultural destruction as war crimes

2017-08-31T15:08:00-04:00

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on 17 August, that an Islamic extremist caused €2.7m in damages when he destroyed shrines in Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012. This is the first time that the ICC has made a ruling solely on cultural destruction, setting an important precedent. [...] Islamic extremists used pickaxes and bulldozers to destroy nine mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the Sidi Yahya mosque, built during a golden age of Islam [...].

By ruling that "the destruction of the protected buildings has caused the suffering of people throughout Mali and the international community," the International Criminal Court in The Hague acknowledged the demolition of cultural heritage as a war crime — potentially treating recent acts of violence against historic sites in Palmyra and Mosul as such as well.

Future Aleppo: Syrian boy builds model of his hometown, now on display in Los Angeles

2017-08-11T09:00:00-04:00

A Syrian boy hand-built a model of what his hometown might look like after the country’s civil war, and now “Future Aleppo” is on display in Los Angeles. [...] As he watched his city get demolished, Mohammed carefully crafted his vision for a future Aleppo using paper, wood, colored pencils, and glue. He lovingly recreated destroyed landmarks, like the medieval Citadel and his favorite park, and added imaginary, forward-looking buildings and design features [...].

"While much of his model was destroyed when Mohammed and his family fled to Turkey, the surviving portion was brought to the U.S. by Alex Kalman, founder of Mmuseumm, a pop-up gallery in Manhattan."

KCRW's Design & Architecture host, Frances Anderton, talks to Kalman about the model's adventurous journey from Aleppo via Turkey to New York and how Mohammed's story represents both "the worst in humanity, as well as the best in humanity."

Anderton also interviews young Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni (previously on Archinect), who's hometown Homs — the country's third largest city — suffered immense destruction and human suffering. Her book The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria will be out in September.

Is anything left of Mosul?

2017-08-10T17:40:00-04:00

While UN satellite analysis suggests about 10,000 buildings have been severely damaged or completely destroyed, the real level of destruction is believed to be higher. Taking into account damage to multiple floors of buildings, not seen via satellites, the UN now estimates the real number of damaged buildings to be more than three times greater - about 32,000.

Lucy Rodgers, Nassos Stylianou & Daniel Dunford provide an in depth examination of the architectural/urban impacts (what to speak of the personal, loss of lives etc.) of the, nine months long, battle for Mosul.

Palmyra recaptured from ISIS; first photos show level of destruction

2017-03-03T13:24:00-05:00

Syrian government troops have retaken Palmyra from Islamic State forces, with help from Russian air support, the Syrian army said in a statement on Thursday. Politicians in Russian welcomed the news as a triumph, as widely reported by the state’s media, but few details have emerged about the condition of the ancient site, where Isil has previously wreaked large-scale destruction. [...] Isil first took Palmyra in May 2015 and the extremist group destroyed a number of important monuments [...].

The Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities & Museums published an initial set of photos of the extent of destruction after ISIS troops had been driven out of Palmyra's archaeological sites on March 2, 2017.

↑ Roman Theater

↑ Tetrapylon

↑ Triumphal Arch (previously on Archinect)

↑ Palmyra Museum

All images via dgam.gov.sy under Creative Commons License.

ISIS militants retake ancient city of Palmyra

2016-12-12T15:09:00-05:00

ISIS forces have retaken the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, according to Syrian government media, the ISIS media wing and a human rights monitor. [...] ISIS first seized control of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in May 2015. Syrian government forces recaptured it in March this year. [...] ISIS demolished many of the city's ancient treasures, including the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph and the nearly 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshamin, as well as the Temple of Bel.

Palmyra previously in the Archinect news:

ISIS believed to have bulldozed 2,900-year-old Assyrian ziggurat in Nimrud, Iraq

2016-11-14T18:42:00-05:00

One of the tallest surviving structures from the ancient world has been totally destroyed by Isil extremists at Nimrud, the former capital of Assyria, which was captured by Iraqi government forces on 13 November. The ziggurat, which was nearly 2,900 years old, was obliterated. Only the largest Egyptian pyramids are higher than Middle Eastern ziggurats and central American step pyramids. [...] incidents represent “the worst damage that Isil has inflicted on Iraqi archaeology”.

An older satellite photo from August 31, 2016 shows the Ziggurat and Temple of Ishtar still intact. Image via ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives Facebook page.

A war-torn Syrian's home, IKEA-style

2016-11-08T14:22:00-05:00

Living in a war-torn country isn't easy, which is why the idea to display a Syrian home in the comfort-addled environs of an IKEA store is remarkable. Shoppers can tour a 25 square meter mock-up that is modeled after a real Damascus-adjacent home that functions as living quarters for a family of nine (!) and then donate funds to those in need via special versions of IKEA's signature product tags. This video explains it all:

Saddam Hussain's architectural heritage—and what to do with it

2016-09-13T18:30:00-04:00

During his time in power, as head of state and as leader of the all-powerful, secularist Ba’th party, Saddam would oversee an unprecedented program of monumental development across the historic city of Baghdad. This was not limited to monuments of war and hollow bronze shells, but enormous palatial complexes, museums, art galleries, and civic squares [...] marshal it, awkwardly, unevenly, into the post-industrial age, a modern city shaped by the aspirations and egotistical tastes of a despot.