(PRO)JECT
Brief description of the project
DESCRIPTION: Our project is to design a new construction to replace a collapsed residential building inside Stone Town in a World Heritage context. The new construction that will fill-in a specific empty space will host an exhibition space opened to everybody, a library and other educational facilities and will include accommodation in case of workshops or specific conferences as well as offices. Designed as a place where the traditional skills but also contemporary techniques could be transmitted, learnt, debated, defended or promoted, the project aspires to become a starting point in the process of awareness concerning the preservation and sustainability of local knowledge and built heritage, a place to enhance the rich know-how and traditions with which the master craftsmen shaped the city and with which they still continue to do it. Acting as a platform to create a network, a forum to bring together into dialogue the different stakeholders that create the built environment of Stone Town in a succession of isolated initiatives, the building should be the enveloppe allowing the link between generations, the connection of the different stakeholders that create the vitality of the town: local inhabitants, students, people wishing to enter the construction industry, craftmen, builders and visitors. A place that allows the exchange of knowledge, ideas, visions. A place that acts as a virtual library where students could create contacts with the professional world and where craftmen could promote their activities on their own behalf. A place to learn about yesterday and imagine tomorrow. A place to talk about the past in order to build the future. A place to collect memories as well as to create new ones.