Students build modular houses for Ukrainian refugees

“Unity – Drop you pencils! Unite! And Rebuild!”was the appeal that was made to students of the TH Lübeck in the winter semester 22/23 Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Kassel directed. The task: decent housing for refugees bid on time. “We wanted to become active and offer the refugees a place to live – and that far away from steel container solutionsn,” says Stefan Gruthoff, Research Associate at Department of Civil Engineering of the TH Lübeck and initiator of the project “unity”. Together with Florian Müller, a former architecture graduate of the TH Lübeck, he brought the Unity project to life. Fynn Rösch, an alumni of the civil engineering course at the TH Lübeck, was also enthusiastic about the project and joined it as a structural engineer.

From the draft to the one-to-one model

Prof. Stephan Wehrig and Stefan Gruthoff (Faculty of Civil Engineering at TH Lübeck) presented the Unity project as a topic for the winter semester 22/23 to the students in the “Design and Construction” course. The students had the task according to the design template Architect Slava Balbek from Kyiv one Exterior design with a new facade idea to design and a interior concept to design. In addition to constructing the module, students have a Building instructions for the interior and the furniture developed. The modules should be quick help on site For example, they can be delivered to the Ukraine as a kit and are designed in such a way that laypeople can assemble them with a cordless screwdriver and small scaffolding.

The winning designs

At the end of the semester, the students entered with their designs in competition with each other at. In addition to Stefan Gruthoff and Prof. Wehrig, Arne Kleinhans, Head of the Construction and Housing Department of the Ministry of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sport, was also on the jury. Two student teams were able to prevail. Fynn Schaper and Johanne Lüdemann convinced the jury with their prototype for the Architecture summer in Hamburg, which will later be transported to Ukraine and used on site. “The work of Johanne Lüdemann and Fynn Schaper makes an important contribution to the activation and upgrading of the urban space, both with the facade concept and with its interior design concept, which feeling of security and the necessary flexibility in everyday life in a very emphatic way connects,” says Prof. Stephan Wehrig. “We also expect a very good and practical implementation as part of the Unity project, since the students have delivered a high and binding level of detail in the expansion concept,” adds Stefan Gruthoff.

For this year’s NORDBAU, the jury selected the design by Linke Blendermann and Hanna Winkelmann. “The work by Lenke Blendermann and Hanna Winkelmann is an example of a high-quality and balanced design of a family living on only 18 square meters. The focus is not so much on a high degree of flexibility in the furniture, but on a clever and stable zoning of the interior, which skilfully offers communal space, necessary storage space but also private retreats,” says Stephan Wehrig. “The material and furnishing concept also ensures a high quality of stay and creates numerous options for personal appropriation of the living space,” adds Stefan Gruthoff.

The aspiring ones are currently working architects and civil engineers cross-curricular in that, the to complete modules. In architecture, they work on the accommodations in the “Real construction laboratory” module under the direction of Stefan Gruthoff, and in civil engineering they get to work on various topics in addition to building, such as the Circular economy, the carbon footprint and logistics to the hand.
 
From the June 17th to July 8th present the student teams of the TH Lübeck, the TU Darmstadt and the University of Kassel as part of the Hamburg architecture summer her Modules on the site in front of the Deichtorhallen. The exhibits will then be transported to Lviv in the Ukraine, where they will be handed over to the architectural office “Bureu Balbek”.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on June 17 from around 12:30 p.m., during which the students will explain how their residential modules work. Also present: the Ukrainian architect Slava Balbek from balbek bureau. With their project “Re:Ukraine”, the planners from Kyiv laid the foundation for the project “Unity!”. The second modular house will be in the context of NORDBAU trade fair 2023 from September 6th to 10th in Neumünster shown.

Further information

The Re:Ukraine and Unity projects

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