An architectural ideas competition has launched for a necropolis in Babyn Yar in Ukraine, the site of a series of massacres carried out by Nazi forces during World War Two.
Developed by Canadian non-profit group Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE) with the support of the International Union of Architects (UIA), the competition calls for schemes that will unify the current landscape and memorials on site into an integrated memorialization and recreation space.
Babyn Yar, a valley located in Kyiv, Ukraine, was for centuries a multi-ethnic and multi-faith necropolis. In September 1941, nearly 34,000 Kyivan Jews were shot over two days in one of the largest single Nazi massacres during World War II. More massacres followed during the German occupation, involving Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, and Roma, with some estimates of those killed at the site totalling up to 150,000 dead.
Babyn Yar, in Ukraine, was for centuries a multi-ethnic and multi-faith necropolis.
Image: Babyn Yar Public Committee
The competition brief states the objective for entrants should be to create a space of reflection and acknowledgement of the extreme inhumanity and tragic events that occurred at the site.
The single-stage competition will elect an overall winner, second and third place winners and four honourable mentions to a total of seven projects. Elected projects will be awarded the following prizes: US$17,000 for the overall winner; US$12,000 for second place; US$7,000 for third place and US$3,000 for each honourable mention. Each of the seven projects will also receive a US$3,000 honorarium for submitting materials for an accompanying exhibition.
Participants may be citizens of any country but must be professional architects, landscape architects, and urban planners, or be part of a design team led by one of these professionals.
The independent jury for the competition includes: Barbara Aronson (urban and town planner, landscape architect/Israel), Marti Franch Batllori (landscape architect/Spain), Markus Jatsch (architect/United Kingdom), Mykhaylo Hershenzon (architect/Ukraine), Jörg Michel (landscape architect, landscape gardener/Germany), Jimmy Norrman (landscape architect, architect/Sweden), Serhiy Tselovalnyk (chief architect of Kyiv in 2010-2015/Ukraine), UIA (International Union of Architects) representativeOlivierPhilippe (landscape architect/France), doctorVladyslavHrynevych (historian, political scientist/Ukraine), doctorDieterPohl (historian/Germany), ProfessorJamesE. Young (historian/USA).
Deadline for applications is 31 March, 2016 with final submissions due 22 May, 2016. For more information, see: http://konkurs.kby.kiev.ua/
