A former school in Stavyshche becomes housing for displaced families

Office for Future has revealed plans for Dvir, a temporary housing project for families displaced by the war in Ukraine. The scheme would remake a former school in Stavyshche, around 140 kilometres south of Kyiv, into 42 apartments arranged around a central courtyard. The idea is not just to provide shelter, but to reuse a building the town already knows well, turning a local landmark into a place for a new community to settle.

The apartments are planned in a mix of one, two and three-bedroom layouts, with several accessible homes included. Alongside the private flats, the project would add common areas, children’s play spaces and meeting rooms for gatherings and cultural activities. In comments reported by Dezeen, founder Paolo Russo said the aim was to create both good private living space and places where new and existing residents could get to know one another.

The former school’s courtyard would become a planted green space, with some of the asphalt kept as walkways. Office for Future also plans a timber roof fitted with photovoltaic panels, while freestanding wooden walkways would link the apartments. The project is supported by the charity Housing for IDP.

It is a proposal rather than somewhere to visit, but it is worth reading as a careful example of adaptive reuse shaped by social need as much as architecture.

Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 7 October 2026. Read the original

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