НСАУ отримала статус члена-спостерігача Ради архітекторів Європи

Національна спілка архітекторів України отримала статус члена-спостерігача Ради архітекторів Європи (Architects’ Council of Europe, ACE) під час Генеральної асамблеї ACE у Брюселі 29 квітня. «Національна спілка архітекторів України тепер є частиною нашої європейської мережі як член-спостерігач. Вважаємо, що підтримка один одного серед архітекторів Європи має важливе значення», — повідомляється на сторінці ACE у «Фейсбуку».

Виконавча рада ACE створила спеціальну робочу групу «Європейські архітектори для України». На Генасамблеї голова Спілки архітекторів Литви Рута Лейтанайте представила середньострокову/довгострокову стратегію, націлену на ефективну підтримку України, українських архітекторів, людей та архітектури сьогодні та завтра, коли настане час відновлювати країну.

«Ми розглядаємо приєднання України до ACE як ще один крок до об’єднаної Європи у нашому нестримному русі шляхом демократії та загальнолюдських цінностей, визнання важливості України та її архітектурної спільноти для Європи та висловлення вашої готовності вести бізнес і працювати разом», — повідомила в Брюселі представник України, віце-президент НСАУ Олена Олійник.

Олійник подякувала за допомогу архітектурній спільноті України всього світу та зазначила, що, враховуючи масштаби руйнувань та гуманітарної катастрофи, «ми вважаємо, що цю допомогу необхідно структурувати у майбутньому». «Основні засади нашої співпраці з АСЄ слід розглядати як частину руху України до вступу до ЄС. Важливо, щоб допомога надавалася у повній відповідності до політики та процедур ЄС. Це додасть більше довіри приватним інвесторам. Окрема агенція чи комісія, незалежні, але підзвітні багатостороннім, двостороннім та неурядовим донорам, можуть бути створені для координації допомоги та програм відновлення», — сказала вона.

Текст виступу Олени Олійник на Генеральній Асамблеї АСЄ в Брюселі:

Dear friends, dear colleagues!
I would like to thank Ruth Schagemann, Ruth Leitanaite and Boris Charakchiev for inviting me to the ACE General Assembly – also on behalf of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine. It is a great honour indeed.
The National Union of Architects of Ukraine gratefully accepted the proposal and applied to join the Architects Council of Europe. We are grateful that the ACE has given us the opportunity to represent our organization and its expectations and proposals at the General Assembly.
We regard Ukraine’s accession to the ACE as another step towards a united Europe in our unstoppable progress on the path of democracy and universal values, an acknowledgement of the importance of Ukraine and its architectural community to Europe, and an expression of your readiness to do business and work together.
We are well aware that the National Union of Architects of Ukraine has received this credit of trust thanks to the courageous and indomitable struggle of the Ukrainian army and our entire nation. As you know, Ukraine has resisted Russia’s inhumanly atrocious aggression for 64 days.
For 64 days now, we have defended the freedom of the whole of Europe. But this open phase of the war is but a continuation of more than a century of purposeful destruction by Russia of all things Ukrainian. Throughout the twentieth century, first the Soviet Union and then Russia continuously destroyed Ukraine’s original architecture as part of their policy of extermination of the entire Ukrainian nation. In the 1930s, up to 10 million Ukrainians people died or were forcibly resettled in the Holodomor artificial famine engineered by the Soviet authorities. During the same period, a large number of Ukrainian architectural monuments of the 13th-18th centuries, among them unique churches of the Baroque era, more than 300 in Kyiv alone, were ruthlessly destroyed in the campaign of establishing a new Communist identity,.
During World War II, the retreating Soviet Army blew up and destroyed downtown Kyiv, including the most notable residential buildings, the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv Caves Monastery, and other landmarks. This is without the ruination inflicted by Nazi Germany. Postwar renovation, which was soon replaced by faceless panel construction, continued until the 1980s.
After gaining Independence in 1991, Ukrainian architects, who had finally begun to build their own country, met with a new intensification of the hybrid war with Russia, which never resigned itself to the idea of an independent democratic Ukraine. Since 2014, this war has turned into an open occupation of Crimea and Donbas, and now into a terrible invasion and war throughout Ukraine.
In the two months of the war, more than ten thousand civilians have been killed, including several hundred children. A quarter of the country’s population, about ten million, were forced to abandon their homes, more than four million of them moved to the EU. Mariupol and several other large cities are a shambles. Europe has not seen destruction and a refugee crisis on this scale since World War II.
Of the more than four million people who left Ukraine, a half are children. Many families are divided because of the war, because men have remained in Ukraine to fight. In addition, about seven million people have become internally displaced and are also facing difficulties. The worst situation is for hundreds and thousands of people who remain in combat zones, including some 100 thousand in Mariupol.
Ukraine’s economy has already lost almost 50% of its production capacity, mostly in the east. Human losses (those killed and wounded) are steadily growing. Factories and plants, ports, railways, airports, elevators, warehouses, logistic centers, roads, power lines and telecommunications are significantly damaged or destroyed. Entire districts of housing and commercial real estate in many large cities such as Kharkiv and Chernihiv are razed to the ground, and damage to social infrastructure (schools, kindergartens, hospitals, etc.) is very significant. Many other cities have suffered great damage too.
After two months of war, the assistance needed from Europe and other countries is estimated at about 500 billion euros.
Thank you so much for the help that is already being provided to the architectural community of Ukraine from around the world. It takes many forms such as temporary student education, employment, accommodation of IDPs, financial assistance and much more. But given the scale of the destruction and humanitarian catastrophe, we believe that this assistance needs to be structured in the future.
Leading European economists distinguish three stages of reconstruction: first, the so-called immediate response (similar to recovery from a natural disaster). This is already happening and will continue until the end of the war. The second stage is a rapid recovery of critical infrastructure and services. The third stage should lay the foundation for future growth and modernization.
The basic principles of our cooperation with the ACE should be seen as part of Ukraine’s movement to EU accession. It is important that assistance is administered in full compliance with EU policies and procedures. This will give greater confidence for private investors. A separate agency or commission, independent but accountable to multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental donors, may be set up to coordinate the reconstruction assistance and programs.
We also expect assistance in further aligning Ukrainian legislation with EU standards. For example, we need advisory assistance in harmonizing Ukrainian legislation with the European Directive on Public Procurement 2015 on Architectural Competitions. .
Such a commission or agency could start work as soon as possible so that master plans and concepts for urban development will have been ready by the end of the war. First, it is necessary to study the status of infrastructure, the state of urban planning, and loss of architecture and cultural heritage. This inventory is needed to jointly develop a series of detailed annual programs in each area: urban planning, architecture (separately housing, industry, and social infrastructure), preservation and restoration of landmarks, introduction of European energy-saving technologies, and training and refresher training of architects.
It is important to start the process now, while the political will to achieve tangible results is at its highest. The address of the President of Ukraine to the leaders of European states with an invitation to take part in the reconstruction of Ukraine has been received with enthusiasm by architects of Ukraine and most other European countries. The address makes it a point that the assistance should be aimed at accelerating Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Integration of Ukrainian architects with the EU will signal a lasting intention to rebuild Ukraine’s cities and ensure its democracy.
The assistance should focus on stimulating a high level of design, construction and investment (most notably in new equipment, plant, infrastructure, and technical assistance), as well as on capacity-building of the Ukrainian architectural profession. The Russian invasion has undermined the education of many young people, and this needs to be corrected as soon as possible. We see the effectiveness of Western assistance in the field of architectural education in the validation of Ukrainian educational architectural programs, in providing our universities with necessary licensed software, and in inviting leading European instructors to teach in Ukraine. The next step may be the recognition of Ukrainian certificates of practitioner architects in Europe.
We also need help in exploring and preserving damaged cultural heritage. This work can be carried out by joint international college student groups.
Getting back to the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, I want to assure you that we will not be a burden to our European colleagues. Our dramatic history has taught architects to create interesting projects in conditions of limited availability of materials and structural elements, to learn quickly, and become proficient in the latest design software.
Like its army, Ukraine’s architects are strong and professional but lack modern weapons – weapons in the form of state-of-the-art technology, construction expertise, factories, and equipment; legal advice, grants and investments; and collaboration with leading architectural firms in Europe.
The National Union of Architects unites more than 7,000 architects, conducts active international and legislative activities, organizes competitions, and supports practitioner architects, academics, and students. An Architectural Chamber was established under the auspices of the NUAU recently.
We regard the NUAU’s accession to the ACE as another very important step that brings us closer to a united Europe. The main goal for all of us is to make Europe safer and more comfortable for life after this war, to join our efforts for sustainable development and the fight against global warming. Europe is expected to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
So thank you once again for being involved us in the European architectural community. Let us rebuild Ukraine and build Europe together. Let’s decide what we can do to save freedom, build our cities for new life and establish long-term cooperation on a mutually beneficial and democratic basis.
Glory to Ukraine! Slava Ukraini!