Beirut Year Zero: Shifting, Shielding.
On August 4, 2020, a devastating explosion hit Port of Beirut at 6:07 pm. With shattered GLASS raining down and covering the streets within 10km, GLASS is blamed for causing the majority of recorded injuries and deaths, as well as a new phenomenon of anxiety – "GLASSophobia" (Daronboz, 2020). This thesis does not aim at curing, but exploring [a shielding and narrative system] in response to individual perceptions of different phases, materializing the intangible trauma of "GLASSophobia". The system will be facilitated by celebrating the ancient Arab art of storytelling – Hakawati. To view the shifting shelters as a lens of storytelling will provide inhabitants with responsive levels of "shielding" in different phases, updating the narrative of "trust" as an indicator of the shifting reality and accelerating changes underway.
