The Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Education and Science, a team of urban transformation experts from Big City Lab, the international architectural initiative Rebuild the Wonderful, and Mariupol Reborn held a workshop on school reconstruction. The experts determined how to effectively change the space to make it meet the values of the new school.
The architectural transformation involves modern design, shelters, and the creation of safe, functional spaces for children to learn and socialize. The project involves Ukrainian and European architects with experience in rebuilding Soviet schools. They have united in the Rebuild the Wonderful initiative, coordinated by the Ukrainian team of Big City Lab.
For education to be of high quality, it is necessary to change not only the content but also the form. Children need a space that inspires, not depresses. Schools should have places where children can learn relevant knowledge and relax when needed. Outdated, Soviet, dysfunctional premises will be a thing of the past. Every school in Ukraine should be like the office of a powerful IT company.
The pilot project is being launched in five schools. The Ministry of Digital Transformation is creating conditions for the rapid implementation of the project. Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov notes:
“After completing the pilot for 5 schools, we will scale the experience to other educational institutions.”
Viktoriia Titova, CEO of Big City Lab, says that 72% of all schools in Mariupol are 5 architectural types of buildings. They are repeated hundreds of times throughout Ukraine. Accordingly, 5 transformation projects are enough for the state to make thousands of schools comfortable across the country. But to rethink the Soviet legacy, it is not enough to paint the walls or hang new curtains. It is necessary to transform the space through the prism of human-centeredness and barrier-free accessibility to make it modern in terms of functionality and design.
“The expertise of architects alone is not enough, we need the opinion of the users themselves, so we invite everyone to join the project in a survey, because we see schools as a place for the community,” adds Titova.
The government’s task is to build an education system that can create professional and happy people for the new innovative economy. This is the foundation for the development of human capital, the creation of an innovative economy and multibillion-dollar companies.
