Ammar Azzouz

Domicide: Architecture, War and the Destruction of Home in Syria  

1pm PST Friday, February 24, 2023

Via Zoom (https://calpoly.zoom.us/j/81286680783)

 

Ammar Azzouz is a UK-based architect and writer working at Arup, London. Ammar completed his PhD in Architecture at the University of Bath, UK. He is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford at the School of Geography and the Environment. His book Domicide: Architecture, War and the Destruction of Home in Syria, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2023. 

The city of Homs, like so many places in Syria, has suffered mass destruction since the war began in 2011. So far, the architectural response to the crisis has focused on 'cultural heritage', ancient architecture, and the external displacement of refugees, often neglecting the everyday lives of Syrians and the buildings that make up their homes and communities. In this presentation, I use the notion of the 'home' to address the destruction in cities like Homs, the displacement of Syrian people both externally and internally, and to explore how cities can be rebuilt without causing further damage to the communities that live there. Drawing on interviews with those working in the built environment professions, both inside and outside of Syria, but also Syrians from other backgrounds who have become 'architects' in their own way as they were forced to repair and rebuild their homes by themselves, Domicide offers fresh insight into the role of the architect during time of war, and explores how the future reconstruction of cities should mirror the wants and needs, the traditions and ways of living, of local communities.