Marwa Al-Sabouni shares her incredibly motivating insights on how to rebuild Syria through architecture.
by Portia Ladrido
Watch her video conference with TED talk above to learn more about Marwa Al-Sabouni’s cause.
A more in-depth discussion of Al-Sabouni’s vision is laid out in her book The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria. The book also details the historical background of the buildings in Homs, Syria and how political corruption has contributed to the wrecking of public spaces.
While it is rather hard to focus on concrete symbols when there are human lives in peril, architecture oftentimes take on a deeper meaning, as seen in an excerpt from her book:
“Our homes do not just contain our life earnings, they contain our memories and dreams, they stand for what we are. To destroy one’s home should be taken as an equal crime to destroying one’s soul.”
The book also contains her personal illustrations of Homs, Syria where she shows typical neighbourhoods and religious buildings reduced to rubble and as well as the beauty and intricacy of the existing architectures around her community.
Portia Ladrido is a multimedia journalist specialising in social justice, culture, and the arts. She is a human rights journalism fellow at the Philippine Human Rights Information Center and the Metro Manila hub coordinator of the Solutions Journalism Network. She currently writes speeches for the Philippines’ first female socialist senator. Previously, she worked as an editor and writer at CNN Philippines.