Office for Future Converts Ukrainian School into Homes for 42 Families

Architecture studio Office for Future will convert a former school in Stavyshche, roughly 140 kilometres south of Kyiv, into temporary housing for 42 families displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Named Dvir, the project will create 42 apartments inside the existing school building, in configurations that include one, two and three-bedroom flats as well as several accessible units. The invasion that drove these families from their homes has been ongoing since 2022.

Supported by the charity Housing for IDP, the scheme arranges the apartments around a central courtyard and adds shared spaces intended to build social connection between residents and the wider town.

What does the conversion involve?

The design keeps the building's familiar shell and works within it:

• 42 apartments of varying sizes, including accessible units
• Common areas, children's play areas and meeting spaces for gatherings and cultural activities
• A central courtyard turned into planted green space, with portions of the existing asphalt retained as walkways
• A new timber roof topped with photovoltaic panels
• Freestanding wooden walkways connecting the apartments

Office for Future founder Paolo Russo framed the project as both an architectural and a social undertaking.

"Our goal was twofold: to guarantee high-quality private living spaces for the new residents and, at the same time, to offer the city meeting places where the two communities can get to know each other and experience shared moments, transforming the architectural project into a true social project," Russo said.

"Through this intervention, architecture becomes a tool for social reconstruction, demonstrating how the recovery of a historic building can contribute to the regeneration of a community affected by conflict," he added.

Why adapt a former school?

The studio chose an existing, familiar building in the hope of helping newcomers settle in the rural town. Russo said the team asked itself "how this place could best welcome people who have experienced the trauma of losing their homes."

"We worked on a building that is already a landmark for the citizens, a former school that is part of their memory," he continued. "We wanted a new community to be born here, capable of integrating into the broader community of Stavyshche."

The project arrives amid continued damage to Ukraine's built heritage. Russian strikes this year have hit significant buildings including the UNESCO-listed Dormition Cathedral and the Bernardine Monastery in Lviv.

Dvir points to a model of recovery that works with what survives: reusing a remembered local building rather than building anew, and pairing private housing with shared space where displaced residents and townspeople can meet.