Author Iegeniiva Gubkina's Architectural Guide Kharkiv is another title on Ukraine's building
tradition. In this 300-pages publication she argues passionately for the protection of the
Constructivist heritage in her hometown. In Kharkiv the war destroys buildings almost daily -
making it difficult to remember Ukraine's architectural history. A prominent example is the
Railway Workers' Club which was largely destroyed after two direct attacks in March and most
recently in August 2022. This guide is more than a documentation of the significant buildings
in the second largest Ukrainian city. This book is a declaration of love for a city that was
exposed to direct combat several times during the Second World War and has been a frontline
city since February 2022. Gubkina's description of Kharkiv is based on the layout of the
Janus-faced structure Old Town vs. New Town and Sumska Street connecting the two parts. »But
the two equal centers do not simply oppose argue or resist one another but are in dialogue
in interaction in a dialectical relationship. This is not the primitive negation of the old
but the classic unity and struggle of opposites of the old and the new. Or more it is the
completion of the thesis-antithesis model by synthesis.« This ambivalence takes on all the more
significance against the backdrop of the Russian army's current war of aggression. This title
is part of the Histories of Ukrainian Architecture programme initiated by DOM publishers in
response to Russia's attack on Ukraine's sovereignty on 24 February 2022.
