This summer of 2025, a vision born during a war, finally raised on the lake in Severynivka, Vinnytsia region, Ukraine. This month, we at Rebuild Green 2030 program are proud to announce the completion of “Ptahahata” – The Bird Observatory, the pilot building of the Common Ground Project ensemble of the cultural and educational center buildings by the budmo.team, winners of the Rebuild Green 2024 Hackathon. A small architectural marvel with a big mission: to become a space of cultural and emotional recovery for mothers and children who have escaped the brutal reality of occupation in Ukraine.
Photo credit: Budmo.team
A Project Rooted in Purpose
The Ptahahata is not just a building—it’s a sanctuary. Perched near the water, surrounded by sky and songbirds, this observatory offers a place where displaced families can reconnect with nature, sleep under the stars, and rediscover peace. Designed as the first realization of the Budmo team’s winning concept for Common Ground at Ptakha Camp (formerly Restart Camp), it fulfills the Hackathon requirement to bring a vision to life within one year of the competition’s end.
Thanks to a prize that was more than symbolic—Modulina Straw Panels for walls, roofs, and floors—the project showcases how biogenic, circular construction can offer shelter without adding to the carbon burden of our planet.
Meet the Team Behind the Transformation
The story of the Budmo team is as international and resilient as Ukraine itself. The group was initiated by Nicolas Ziesel, a French architect and sustainability expert, who was drawn to Ukraine by both the crisis and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact. He inspired architects and designers from France, Ukraine, and Latvia to join the Rebuild Green 2024 Hackathon.
After winning with their thoughtful and grounded proposal, the team formed a non-governmental organization—Budmo—to expand their vision beyond a single prototype. Now, they are actively coordinating more projects across Ukraine, standing at the intersection of regenerative architecture and social healing.
Their work was enabled by the Podil Regional Development Agency, in close coordination with the Rebuild Green 2030 program, and supported by founding partners FIABCI-Ukraine and Synchro Space.
A Global Network of Support
Let’s be clear: this was not simply a construction project. It was a convergence of hundreds of stakeholders, from municipal leaders to international volunteers, from Ukrainian mothers seeking peace to European policy advocates. And at its heart were three leaders whose commitment never wavered:
- Alissa Ban’kovska, CEO of SYNCHRO SPACE and Head of the Rebuild Green 2030 Committee in FIABCI-Ukraine, whose ability to orchestrate multi-national cooperation has been a cornerstone of the project.
- Kateryna Pylypchuk, Vice President of FIABCI-Ukraine and strategist at Modulina, who coordinated the delivery and integration of the panels and kept the soul of the project aligned with its sustainable mission.
- Zilvinas Bitinas, CEO of Modulina and a true friend of Ukraine, whose donation of panels—once just a noble idea—has now materialized into a movement.
Starting October 2023, where the Rebuilding Ukrainian Cities Green initiative was launched during the Architectural Practice conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, to the quiet lakeside of Severynivka, the ripple effect of this partnership is unmistakable.
A Future Built from Straw, Love, and Solidarity
What happens when you combine biogenic building materials, a team of visionary architects, grassroots organizers, and international allies who believe in a regenerative future?
You get something like Ptahahata. You get a night under the stars for a mother and child who had only known air raid sirens. You get hope. And most of all—you get a reminder that rebuilding green is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
Thank you, Budmo team, for showing us what’s possible. Thank you, Ukraine, for your strength. And thank you, everyone who stands with us, in belief, in action, and in building the world we want to live in.
Photo credit: Budmo.team
