Álvaro Siza Leads a Rostrum of Acclaimed Architects Imagining Possible Scenarios for a Reconstructed Syria

Exhibition (Venice, Italy). Image © Sketch for Syria

Sketch for Syria, a project initiated by by Marco Ballarin and Jacopo Galli at IUAV, Venice, has brought together 150 architects from 26 nations in a large-scale effort to “imagine, trace and share possible scenarios” for Syria, following the recent devastation of the lives of its citizens and a significant amount of its architectural heritage.

In response to the United Nations’ (UN-ESCWA) drafting of an agenda on July 14th, 2016 to consider ways of reconstructing the country, this drawing project has attracted contributions from the likes of Álvaro Siza, Philippe Rahm, Peter Wilson, and Francisco Aires Mateus.

52 sketchbooks came directly from Syrian cities: Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartus “showing,” according to the organizers, the “peaceful strength of architecture.”

The positive value of the initiative is the consciousness about the real meaning of the reconstruction process: the ability to imagine a possible future in the rubble of the war. Many architects have left a mark: retracing past or imaginary travels, tracing hypothesis about the future, thinking about the drama of refugees and migrants, choosing artistic provocation, transforming their pencils in peaceful weapons.

Salma Samar Damluji / Lebanon

Beals and Lyon / Chile

Paredes y Pedrosa / Spain

Francisco Aires Mateus / Portugal

Kinda Ghannoum / Syria

Álvaro Siza / Portugal

Alvaro Siza / Portugal. Image © Sketch for Syria

Marco Ferrari / Italy

Loopo Studio / Greece

Peter Wilson / Germany

Benno Albrecht / Italy

Ahmed Al Sahli / Syria

Philippe Rahm / France

Sean Godsell / Australia

Participants:

A12 Associati, Ace-Dam, Samer Adeeb, Abdulrahman Adi, Rose Ahmad, Hazar Ahmd, Francisco Aires Mateus, Manuel Aires Mateus, Al Borde Arquitectos, Moumena Albarazi, Benno Albrecht, Hanin Alhalak, Mustafa Alhamwy, Ahed Alkhatib, Zaki Rabia Alkhatib, Diala Alkhoury, Tala Alshami, Roaa Alturek, Massimo Alvisi, Abdalla Asaad, Felipe Assadi, Hala Asslan, Yehya Al Aswad, Fadi Attoura, Aldo Aymonino, B22, Babau Bureau, Steve Baer, Ricardo Bak Gordon, Nourhan Al Bakkour, Roland Baldi, Nicola Barbugian, Lamira Al Baroudi, Fabrizio Barozzi, Alia Bassioni, Alejandro Beals, Paolo Belardi, Gaetano Bertolazzi, Federico Buonincontro, Ciro Cirillo, Serena Cominelli, Diana Corbaci, Roberto Corradini, Javier Corval·n, Raffaele Cutillo, Fares Dahabi, Silvia Dainese, Alessandro Dal Corso, Armando Dal Fabbro, Salma Samar Damluji, Brunetto De Batte – Giovanna Santinolli, Lana Diab, Mariam Doghouz, Fernando Dowling, Elton_Leniz Arquitectos, Huda Hamal Ennabeh, Antonio Esposito, Alberto Ferlenga, Marco Ferrari, Emanuele Fidone, Fosbury Architecture, Cherubino Gambardella, Fabrizio Gay, Muhammad Ghanem, Kinda, Maya, Nadine Ghannoum, Abd Al Ghany, Simone Gheduzzi, Sean Godsell, Leonard Grosch, Moukhles Al Hafez, Mouhannad Hatem, Adam Hatvani, Mohamed Haya, Mohamad Al Henawi, Alfarhattian Houzzam, Gianluca Iannotta, Amer Al Issa, Rebal Jaber, Rama Jber, Rneem Jber, Kristen Jubran, Rim Kalsoum, Victoria Kassar, Driss Kettani, Alaa Al Khatib, La Macchina Studio, Labics, Vincenzo Latina, Jose Ignacio Linazasoro, Jorge Lobos, Loopo Studio, Riccardo Lopes, Jose Lorenzo-Torres, Kevin Mark Low, Guilherme Machado Vaz, Chiara & Carlo Magnani, Shaza Al Manakly, Davide Marazzi, Patrizio Martinelli, Haya Massimi, Giancarlo Mazzanti, Ettore Maria Mazzola, Antonio Monestiroli, Mohamed Al Mufti, Samira Muhammed – Samer Al Baroudi, Abdulkarim Mustafa, Ghiath Obaidy, Piercarlo Palmarini, Morpho Papanikolaou + Beetroot, Angela Paredes – Ignacio Pedrosa, Sergio Pascolo, Marco Provinciali, Philippe Rahm, Aahed Annasser Rajjoub, Yamen Ranjous, Abd Al Raouf Al Hamwi, David Raponi, Abdal Razak Dawalibi, Massimiliano Rendina, Kinga Rusin, Gretta Saied, Ahmed Al Salhi, Abdallah Samo, Philippe Samyn, Dania Saoud, Kinda Sati, Ziad Shahet, Hazem Shahrour, Hala Al Shimali, Samia Shkair, Reem Shahadeh, Alvaro Siza, Souheil Sleiman, Carin Smuts, Southcorner, Studio Albori, Nourhan Sundouk, Jrgen Bech Taxholm, Carlo Terpolilli, Alessandro Tessari, Anas Tmraz, Emilio Tunon Alvarez, Davide Vargas, Riyad Al Wadi, Mohammad Fares Whby, Peter Wilson, Mohammed Zanboua, Samar Waleed Zaydan, Samir Abu Zeina.