Walking Through the Ruins of Memory and Dream of Recovery

This two-day workshop, held in April 2025, invited 4th and 5th year architecture students to explore the Old City of Aleppo through walking and dialogue. Its aim was to engage with the sensory strata of history, memory, socio-cultural life, and materiality that unfold between the past, present, and future of a war-torn urban landscape.

Through slow walking, embodied observation, and collective reflection, participants attuned themselves to the traces left by war — using their senses to reawaken connection and to rediscover what had been obscured or lost during years of violence and halted recovery.

Guided by heritage expert Andre Yacoubian, the group moved through historic neighborhoods reconfigured by destruction, displacement, fragmented reconstruction, and the resilience of everyday life. Along the way, they encountered enduring imprints of heritage, fragments of memory, and deeply personal impressions — all of which found form in sketches, notes, and shared conversations about belonging and the care needed to revitalize the urban fabric of this historic city.

Date: 25-26.04.2025 & 28.04.2025

Team: Diana Salahieh, Mirma Alwareh, Sozdar Abdo, Rama Omar, Andre Yacubian and Dr. Layla Zibar.

Participants: 33 architecture students from the Faculties of Architecture at the University of Aleppo and the University of Damascus.