Exhibition Reader: “Building Bridges with Reuse”

The Swiss Network with Ukraine is proud to present the accompanying reader to the exhibition “Bridging Borders with Reuse”, held at ETH Zurich in October 2024. The exhibit was the outcome of an intensive seminar week titled "Repairing Vacancy in Ukraine: For Those Who Lost Their Home During War", held in March 2024 at ETH Zurich. For the first time, the SNU is making this inspiring reader available to the public as a downloadable PDF.

During the seminar week, 21 talented ETH students explored innovative approaches to rebuilding a municipal house in Lviv, crafting new possibilities for dignified and resilient living spaces. Organized in partnership with the Swiss Network with Ukraine, Studio Boltshauser, and CO-HATY, the seminar focused on one fundamental question: how can architecture respond meaningfully to displacement and destruction while honouring local culture and community needs?

The exhibition reader chronicles the work of students during the seminar week, and contextualizes this work by featuring histories of the Pidzamche neighborhood in Lviv and the work of CO-HATY. The second half of the reader features a rich collection of edited conversations featuring SNU members and affiliates Barbara Buser, Kees Christiaanse, Philip Ursprung, Roger Boltshauser, Olga Konovalova, Felix Dillman, Anna Dobrova, Silke Langenberg, Daniela Sanjines, and chief architect of the city of Lviv, Anton Kolomeytsev. These dialogues reflect on themes such as reuse, creativity’s relationship to scarcity, temporary and permanent housing, communal housing and private space, conflict, sustainable materials, and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The reader is an essential source for anyone interested in how architecture can respond to the overlapping humanitarian and ecological crises of today.

Check the reader here.

Curatorial Group and Reader Editors:
Xavier Blaringhem, Rémi Jourdan, Gyler Mydyti, Anastasiya Ponomaryova.

Reader Contributors:
Xavier Blaringhem, Barbara Buser, Kees Christiaanse, Felix Dilman, Anna Dobrova, Rémi Jourdan, Anton Kolomyeytsev, Olga Konovalova, Silke Langenberg, Gyler Mydyti, Anastasiya Ponomaryova, Daniela Sanjinés Encinales, Philip Ursprung.