xiaojun zhang peter w. ferretto

guangzhou, china

C oping, catharsis, the collective consciousness of the city. What defines adequacy when it comes to the justice of remembrance? Typically, the evidence of past traumatic events is cleared away and a pristine monument symbolizing the prior chaos is erected in its place. While it is beneficial to sometimes erase the scars of trauma for reconciliation and healing, perhaps in Beirut the trauma must be reinforced: the violence wrought upon the city and its populace kept as tactile evidence – an impactful reminder of the need for governmental vigilance and accountability.

This memorial is proposed not merely for the rebuilding of the city’s fabric, but as an attempt to reexamine trust and transparency between the government and the people. In keeping—and even more drastically, occupying—the void as a new parliamentary space, the solemn duty of Lebanon’s representative assembly is transferred from the halls of the historic Beirut Parliament Building into the depths of the devastation. Embedding itself into the crater and concretizing the outlines, the memorial