In the walls of Lviv Polytechnic National University at the Institute of Architecture and Design, on November 1, 2023, a meeting of the Western Representative Office of the Ukrainian Academy of Architecture was held with the participation of UAA President Oleh Sleptsov and UAA Vice President Mykola Dyomin.
The agenda of the meeting was formed from the following speeches: Introductory speech by the president of UAA, O. Sleptsov; Information about the state, problems and prospects of the activity of the Western representative office of the UAA of the active member of the Academy V. Proskuryakov; Notification of the activity of the Western representative office abroad by the active member of the Academy, Bohdan Cherkes, speeches of members of the Western representative office in Lviv with suggestions for improvement and performance acceleration - Oleksandr Bazyuk, Lyubomir Korolyshyn, Igor Danchak, Andrii Stepaniuk. UAA vice-president Mykola Dyomin and president Oleh Sleptsov summarized the results of the meeting.
In his introductory speech, Oleg Sleptsov thanked the members of the Western delegation for unanimously supporting his candidacy for the presidency of Academy on September 14, 2021 at the UAA general meeting. He reported on the range of his activities as president from September 2021 to November 2023: these are memorandum of cooperation of the UAA with the Academies of Construction, Arts, the National Union of Architects, the National Union of Artists in Ukraine, National Universities, and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Organization of All-Ukrainian competitions - professional and student; creating films about prominent Ukrainian architects; official representative visits to Denmark, Israel, Georgia; signing agreements with various organizations, foundations, societies, educational institutions; co-organization to celebrate important and events and much more.
President O. Sleptsov shared with the members of the Western delegation his understanding of the phenomenon of the modern Ukrainian Academy of Architecture: "First of all, it is not only an organization created on professional grounds, but also a patriotic organization whose task is to act in favor of Ukraine. An invitation to the Academy is not an award for acquired regalia, but the award for participation in for the academic community for the benefit of Ukrainian society."
And although, since 2007, the number of members of the Academy has decreased by more than a third, individuals with unique scientific, professional, and personal qualities, will be invited to the ranks of the Academy.
In his information about the activities of the Western Mission, V. Proskuryakov highlighted its main vectors, the main ones of which were:
- Organization and participation in various conferences in Ukraine and the world - in Lviv, Chernivtsi; Vienna and others;
- Organization and participation of the representation in various competitions of all ranks and their exhibitions in Lviv, Drohobych, Sambor, Lutsk, Odesa at the request of the mayors of Sambor and Drohobych, at the request of the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy, business circles in Odesa, etc.;
- Under the auspices of the representative office, an exhibition was organized and a pavilion of the National Theater Arts was built in Prague in 2019; In recent years, the activities of the members of the Representation in the national and foreign architectural and educational activities were also noticeable - the signing of a memorandum between the Lviv Polytechnic University and the TU, Vienna; – participation of V. Proskuryakov in the jury of "Home for All" in 2023; in the implementation of the educational project "Meet UP" together with TU Kaiserslauten in 2021; participation in the annual seminar of the Latvian architectural schools, dedicated to the restoration of the city of Mariupol; study of the activities of Italian architects in Lviv and Odesa with the organization of an exhibition on the island of Sardinia, together with the teachers of the University of Palermo. Autobiographical books were printed in which the activities of the Academy were reflected - by B. Cherkes, V. Kamenshchyk, and monographs about famous Lviv architects-pedagogues - by V. Proskuryakov, and about Ferdinand Casler - by B. Cherkes;
- The representative office organized meetings, open lectures, and excursions for UAA members from other cities of Ukraine. Those who ended up in Lviv during the crisis - in Drohobych, Truskavets, in the castles in Olesko, Pidhirtsy, Zolochiv;
- All members of the representative office actively participated in the accumulation of funds for the Armed Forces, both in the organizations where they work and for the needs of individual combat units at the request of the military. They helped volunteer organizations and responded to the requests of officials to develop projects for destroyed settlements. Thus, for the Chernihiv region, projects of modular housing, projects of destroyed landscape formations and their subject environment, industrial facilities, projects of single-family residential buildings were sent;
- The work of the representative office, as in peacetime, relies on the cooperation and assistance of the "Kreativ" bureau, "A-7", "Zelemin" in Lviv, "Hurtar" from Drohobych, "Arkona" from Chernivtsi. And also to the "Levinsky Museum" fund, thanks to which the organization of most of the mentioned events became possible.;
- In connection with the requirement of time and due to the fact that there are 7 people left in the Western representative office, it would be expedient to strengthen the existing core with new members - among the main names of which are professors M. Bevz, A. Pavliv, M. Gabrel, Yu. Dyba, associate professor architects S. Ivanov-Kostetskyi from Lviv and O. Kordunyan from Chernivtsi.
Interesting were the reports of B.Cherkes about the activities of the representative office abroad and the experience of the organizations of similar Academies in Austria and Germany: the Saxon Academy of Arts (Dresden) and the German Academy of Urban Planning and Regional Planning. The successful operation of which is facilitated by the financial support of the governments of the mentioned countries. Academician Cherkes B.S. is one of the most important urgent problems of UAA. called it rejuvenation and called on the leadership of the Academy to effectively manage the change of generations. B.Cherkes also called to intensify the Academy's presence not only in architectural forums, but also in design and urban planning forums. According to Cherkes, the Academy should take over all vectors of architectural education at the graduate and doctoral level. Actively participate in the approval of topics and guidance.
Bohdan Stepanovych suggested using the pages of the journal of the Institute of Architecture and Design "Architectural stages", which received the "Skopus" nomination for the first time in Ukraine, thanks to the efforts of professors and doctors of IARD, as well as the Ukrainian Academy of Architecture. Summarizing the opinion of the academicians of the Western representative office of the Academy, B.Cherkes proposed to accept the annual one-time membership fee in the UAA in the amount of UAH 1,200. (30 euros), which would definitely discipline its members. As well as a one-time contribution to newly admitted members in the amount of UAH 5,000. Cherkes asked to bring this proposal to the next presidium of the Academy.
Also, the present members of the Western delegation made various proposals - I. Danchak advised to conclude memorandums of cooperation with NSAU and other creative unions of Lviv, the region, the region and universities in which the fields of architecture and other arts are cultivated.
Prof. present at the meeting. M.Gabrel emphasized that UAA is the most important professional and intellectual institution of the country and should lead all vectors in the reconstruction of its architecture and the revival of the environment. For this purpose, it is expedient to create a committee of architectural and urban spatial development in Ukraine at the Academy.
In his speech, the vice-president of the UAA, M. Demin, emphasized that the activity of scientists at the Academy is a conscious fulfillment of their duty to society and the country. He also supported the proposal of B. Cherkes regarding contributions, and advised to actively look for interested sponsors, because it is good to count on state funding.
Summarizing the results of the activities of the Western Representative Office, President O. Sleptsov thanked those present and noted that the Western Representative Office of the UAA is the most dynamic in the country. At the same time, in his opinion, there are reserves in the activation of the activities of the Representative Office:
- In order to popularize the activities of the representative office in Lviv, the region, Ukraine and abroad, all printed products that were produced with the participation or co-authorship of members of the UAA should also bear the abbreviation of the Academy;
- Taking into account the unique integration of members of the Western representation in foreign representations, institutions, organizations, it would be expedient to involve members of the Academy from other representations in Ukraine in such cooperation;
- It would be worthwhile in the near future to integrate the efforts of academics from Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi with the activities of the Western Representation. And in order to get acquainted with future candidates for membership of the Academy from the Western Representation, their personal bibliographic data should be prepared for the Presidium.
