Architect Mario Cucinella created the “Peace Village,” a multifunctional space and climate shelter installed in Brovary, a city about 20 km from Kiev. The space, designed to serve the Ukrainian people, was donated by the Movement for European Nonviolent Action (MEAN) in collaboration with a pool of Italian companies.

“Building is a form of friendship and collaboration, the opposite of war, which instead destroys and divides. This was the thinking behind building a “Peace Village” in Brovary, not far from the center of Kiev. The village consists of three modules in an area of 300 square meters. In these warm shelters with electricity, children, the elderly and young people can take shelter from the horrors of war,” says Maro Cucinella in an interview with the Bologna edition of La Repubblica.

The village is composed of three structures of 100 square meters each, arranged in such a way as to draw a peace symbol from above. At the center a collective space is a small square, and warm, well-equipped cottages with two stoves, a generator and 16 solar mini-generators set strong examples of ecological transition. There are spaces for children to study and play, for people can meet, read, charge their phones and tablets, or simply warm up: places, in other words, where people can gather to be together.

An architect and designer who has won numerous international awards, Mario Cucinella offered his inspired approach free of charge, and built a team of friendly businesses who donated all the materials necessary for the project.

“…We wanted to give a small sign of closeness, offering construction instead of destruction,” says Cucinella again when interviewed by La Repubblica.