Marwa Al-Sabouni: Architecture as a Matter of Life or Death

Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and award-winning architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni, followed by an audience Q & A. A voice of penetrating clarity and prophetic power, Al-Sabouni discusses the role of architecture in cultivating or undermining our social fabric, arguing that the seeds of the devastating Syria Civil War were sown by the choices of architects and city planners. Though born of particular and painful experience, Al-Sabouni's insights on the nature of human life and community are universal, and offer consolation and hope amidst the civic alienation and aesthetic degradation facing so many of us today.

The conversation took place online on June 24th, 2021.
Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode

Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque
Saint Mary of the Holy Belt Cathedral
Souk marketplaces
Roger Scruton: The Aesthetics of Architecture
Christopher Alexander
Links of Possible Interest:

The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780500343173

Building for Hope: Towards an Architecture of Belonging
https://thamesandhudson.com/building-for-hope-towards-an-architecture-of-belonging-9780500343722

Dr Al-Sabouni's Fellow Page at Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac/people/marwa-al-sabouni

Ralston College
http://ralston.ac

Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-short-courses

Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com/
Timeline

0:00 – Introduction
4:15 – Al-Sabouni’s Overview of Homs’ architecture and destruction
17:26 – Role of architecture in undoing moral fabric
29:21 – How civic policy contributes to architectural degradation
34:56 – The means to foster a shared human horizon that affirms difference while also transcending it
45:06 – The necessity and decline of face-to-face encounters
54:10 – Buildings as a way to cultivate shared feelings of belonging
1:01:40 – “He who has no old has no new”
1:10:35 – Q and A

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