82 percent of people identify with their cities about architecture. Identity and architecture is also the field of research chosen by Bohdan Cherkes of Ukraine for his career and his life.
He grew up near Lviv and it was the wooden village church that aroused his interest in architecture early on. The German language was still present in his family, as well as in Lviv, the former capital of the region of Galicia, which in the past was an important part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. As late as 1900, the inhabitants of Lviv were a multicultural mix of Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Armenians and Germans. After the two world wars it changed rapidly. The question of "identity" became crucial and it turned to be research area for Bohdan Cherkes.
He teaches at the Polytechnic University of Lviv, founded in the 19th century under Austrian rule. There has been a relationship with the Technical University of Vienna for around 150 years, which was consolidated in a university partnership in the mid-1990s. In workshops, seminars, exhibitions, through student exchanges and other activities, the two universities work closely together, especially in the field of architecture.
In this episode of Alumni AudioLab Bohdan Cherkes tells about his personal history and the history of Lviv and Ukraine, about identity and growing up in the Soviet Union, the relationship with Moscow today and about a fruitful university partnership.
