CHERNOBYL+

Design Studio 2004/5
Institut für experimentelle Architektur.Hochbau
Innsbruck University

TUTORs

Prof Kjetil Thorsen, Annette Erlenwein, Andrea Kaltschmid, Frank Ludin

On April 26th, 1986 reactor no.4 of the nuclear plant of Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, exploded.

Since then there has been a restricted area of 30km around the exploded reactor. The 48,000 inhabitants of the city of Pripyat, which is 7km away from the site - mostly workers of the power plant and their families - were evacuated and have not been able to return to their homes ever since. Pripyat is now a ghost town.

The damaged radioactive reactor was enveloped by a concrete sarcophagus, after several weeks of fire fight. Since then it has been repeatedly repaired and finally renewed. The other reactors at the plant were reactivated. In 2000 the nuclear plant of Chernobyl was finally shut down. As a result of the damage 125,000 to 146,000 km² of land has been radioactively contaminated. Two weeks after the catastrophe, winds spread radioactivity throughout Europe. The pollution is long-term, due to the half-life period of the radioactive substances - Iodium 131, Caesium 137, Strontium 90 and Americanum being 8 days, 29, 30 and 433 years, respectively.

In the meantime around 800 citizens of Pripyat - mostly elderly persons - returned to the military restricted area and have been living there illegally since then. About 800,000 people were involved in the fire-fighting and clean-up of the catastrophe. Meanwhile 50,000 of them have died and most of the survivors have become seriously ill. Diseases caused by radioactivity have increased dramatically in Ukraine and the surrounding territories.

The aim of the project is to develop new architectural strategies and tools, through the analysis of the unique situation of Chernobyl. The objective is to develop made-to-measure strategies and general tools, which would be applicable to other situations.

Based on fundamental research on the ecological, political and social consequences of the Chernobyl reactor catastrophe - both worldwide and in the affected areas - urban development scenarios and/or single architectural installations should attempt to provide living conditions for the people on-site. Furthermore, they should provide the necessary infrastructure for scientific research and incentives for commercial investment and industrial settlements.

Hubert Schlögl - CHERNOBYL ITEMS ONLINE SHOP

Daniel Brecher - CHERNOBYL MEETS ZWENTENDORF

Markus Ortner - SILENCE AND EMPTINESS

Nicolas Ebner - MYTH FORM