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Architecture studio
led by Sasha Topolnytska
in New York City
in Chicago
Exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago, IL, USA
March 10 - September 1, 2025
Curated by Sasha Topolnytska, Ashley Bigham
& Betty Roytburd
Exhibition Design by Sasha Topolnytska & Ashley Bigham
Graphic Design by Aliona Solomadina
Media Coverage: Chicago Tribune, Block Club Chicago
Image Credits: Chicago Architecture Center
Curatorial, exhibition design, advocacy, and humanitarian work
Chicago was the second venue for this exhibition, which was first presented in 2024 at the Center for Architecture in New York. Constructing Hope: Ukraine focused on decentralized reconstruction efforts, presenting the work of grassroots initiatives operating both within Ukraine and across its diaspora. The exhibition brought together a wide range of projects—from modular furniture and housing for internally displaced individuals to documentation of destroyed buildings and spatial memories—to illustrate how architecture can foster mutual aid and support networks across entire communities. Together, these initiatives demonstrated how, even amid wartime destruction, design can become a tool for resilience, collective action, and hope.
Alongside the exhibition, we organized a series of public programs and lectures exploring topics including emergency housing, mutual aid networks, environmental recovery, community development, care and feminist practices, and the complex entanglements of war, imperialism, militarization, ecology, and reconstruction. These conversations expanded the exhibition's themes and highlighted architecture's role as both a practical and cultural response to crisis.