Kharkiv School of Architecture — higher education

Kharkiv

The launch of the new architectural school in Kharkiv is not accidental choice. Exactly the founding of the university gave the impact to the development of the city in the nineteenth century. Nowadays Kharkiv plays an incredibly important role, because it stands on a civilizational fault and it’s still in constant search. The city with a young student’s face has enormous scientific potential, as well as wide prospects for young professionals, who will become representatives of a new generation of architects who will study in the KhSA. Kharkiv is a place of great opportunities for those who are ready to accept the challenge and take part in the creation of modern history.

The Life of the Kharkiv School of Architecture

The School has become a platform for discussing the most relevant issues and tendencies in architecture, urban planning and other disciplines. During the year, the School hosts discussions and meetings with the best architectural practices in Ukraine, presentations and discussions facilitated by Ukrainian and European experts, exhibitions and festivals, workshops and master-classes. 

The mission of the School is to enable on-going networking of its students with architectural professionals and specialists. Since the first years of study, the School students build new connections which will be crucially important for their career growth after the graduation.

The students have an opportunity to participate in discussions and attend lectures in various topics conducted under the Public Programme of the School, to enjoy informal communication with the guests and to join the world’s architectural and urban-planning community, with the School of Architecture as its Kharkiv hub.

The Educational Space of the Kharkiv School of Architecture

The School Building

The School’s address is 5 Kontorska St., Kharkiv. Its mid-19th century building is located in a street where different eras overlap and the true Kharkiv spirit is still alive. 

The workshop, the computer class, the studio and classrooms were created to plunge the students into the processes of design, research, investigation and creating new things.

 

The Studio

It is an academic and work space which enables students to understand how an architectural practice operates, when they are still in training. It is a specialized classroom, where the students spend most of their academic time. 

A private work station in the Studio 

The School provides its undergraduate and graduate students with permanent work stations in the studios, where the students are working individually and together with their tutors. The studio, typical for western countries, is an innovation in architectural training for the post-Soviet states: it provides common space for work, interaction, communication, and exchange of ideas and skills between the colleagues.  For the students, the studios will be open round the clock.

Apart from the studios, the School provides space for lectures, discussions, and final presentations.

Workshops

Workshops are a platform to get acquainted and work with materials, forms, tectonics, models and modern technologies. A lot of academic time is scheduled for experimenting with various materials and structures and making sample architectural constructions and their parts.

At the model-making workshop, the students master the tools for making architectural models and testing samples. The shop is equipped with a laser cutter used for group work and with foam cutters and 3D printers used by small groups of 3-5 students. Other equipment includes a fret-sawing machine, borers and grinders used to work with specific parts.

IT Classroom

Architectural education is impossible without mastering basic software for drawing, mapping, simulation, visualization of ideas, without data collecting and plunging into virtual reality. The students work at their projects in a specially equipped IT classroom, mastering and applying various software, which is constantly updated and generated in today’s world of technology.

Library

The Kharkiv School of Architecture has an ambition to create the largest public architectural library in Ukraine with a collection of classic international and national publications open for everyone; it will be a library monitoring new publications and constantly acquiring new editions. 

We have already been supported by the Strelka Press, DOM Publishers and donors who have provided books for the library. 

The public library project is incessantly developing and it intends to stay that way in order to discuss new books and enlarge book lists on various topics suggested by our international tutors

In future, the School plans to start its own publishing house to publish Ukrainian translations of relevant books and to become a platform for publishing Ukrainian researches and projects.

The Coffee Shop

Having re-invented the classic ‘canteen’ format, we have created a coffee shop space for open communication, parties and small-group celebrations. The School is located in a district attracting other creative enterprises, such as the “Bagazh [Luggage]” School of Marketing and Communication or the Fabrika co-working. Also, the School shares its neighbourhood with other university campuses. The Coffee Shop as a third location is an integral part of the life of students and neighbourhood residents.

Our Alumni's Professional Future

Our graduates will have an opportunity to work freely in international and Ukrainian bureaus and offices that need new qualified professionals able to think creatively, quickly solve specific tasks, use up-to-date software and conduct their own projects.

The School gives its students an opportunity to create their own contact network to build their own career, gain experience and establish private practices.

Партнери ХША

The School partners are a network of architectural bureaus and project organizations, construction companies and material manufacturers, higher and non-formal education institutions, publishing houses, public organizations, municipal and state bodies and foundations.