Beirut ARTitecture

On August 4th 2020, a major blast occurred in the Port of Beirut. This event added a lethal component to a city already struggling due to the 2019 economic crisis and the COVID19 pandemic; it left the city bleeding, fragile, empty, and on the edge of death. Based on Strategy&'s ‘Beirut Explosion impact assessment' report1, heavy economical, infrastructural and physical losses were quantified. All this impacted not only livelihoods, shelter, safety, jobs, economies, education and basic needs; they also generated potentially lifelong trauma, psychosocial distress, anxiety disorder and mental ill-health. Almost 24 months since the blast, not all Beirut's residents have returned to the nearby areas, and gentrification that would further demolish heritage buildings and tear the fabric of social coexistence looms in the air. Although devastated, Beirut is continuously seeking change, light and positive transformation; the on-going crisis and the blast entail a rare opportunity to rebuild, both socially and physically. In light of these circumstances, the proposed tool – entitled ARTitecture – aims to ‘recycle' Beirut's contested public spaces by using art-therapeutic drawing, body-based performance practice, digital transformation and urban acupuncture. The project tests a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to generating sustainable transformation in public space, directly informed by the lived experience of inhabitants.