Resilience and Repair

During the 2024 London Design Festival, Insulate Ukraine joined designers and humanitarian practitioners at the Global Design Forum to explore how design can respond to conflict, disaster, and the destruction of homes and communities.

Insulate Ukraine founder Harry Blakiston Houston spoke alongside architect and urban historian Jenia Gubkina, researcher Ammar Azzouz, Türkiye Design Council founder Mehmet Kalyoncu, and humanitarian architect Mario Balducci.

The discussion considered how design can preserve identity, support recovery, and provide immediate practical help after homes and public spaces are damaged or destroyed.

For Insulate Ukraine, the event was an opportunity to show how a simple, low-cost emergency replacement window can restore warmth, protection, and dignity while permanent reconstruction remains ongoing.

Developed through collaboration between designers, engineers, and Ukrainian teams working in frontline communities, the window is an example of design shaped directly by the people who build, install, and depend upon it.

Presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the Global Design Forum, the conversation demonstrated that design can be more than an object or finished product: it can become an immediate humanitarian response.

We are grateful to London Design Festival, the Global Design Forum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the fellow speakers who helped bring this important conversation to a wider audience.