2020

Videos

Archstorming’s new competition takes us to Senegal (Africa), a country with regions where only 50% of school-age children have access to education and where classrooms are often crammed with up to 80 students per class due to the limited number of structures.

The current COVID-19 pandemic and its response have raised critical questions about how we live and work. It has also led to a lot of us asking, ‘How can we improve our own neighbourhood?’

The city district of Zibo, the third largest by population within the Shandong province, has been a key stone mining location till recent years. The excavation activities, particularly focused on the Zichuan subdistrict, marked the rural areas of the province with invasive interventions and disruptions of the local ecosystem. The mountainous area is today characterized by woodlands, villages, mine pits in quarries and terraces built with stone. The extraction activities have been terminated, generating the need for new purpose and value in a location with unique cultural, ecological and social conditions.

The Covid-19 pandemic is far from being controlled and has already claimed over 600,000 deaths around the world. This incredible loss is compounded for many families who were not able to say goodbye to their loved ones in person due to hospital safety measures or hold proper funerals because of the incredible scale of the situation. In the face of these tragedies, how may a local community memorial honor those who have passed and bring solace to families?