Wēijī : When Wounds Become Opportunities

Abstract: Amatrice is the subject of the project. The small Italian village located in the Apennines, 150 km north from Rome, lived the 24th August 2016 one of the most terrible moment in its entire history: a dreadful earthquake of magnitude 6.0 M hit the town destroying the entire historical centre and leaving 300 of its 2600 inhabitants under the rubble of the collapsed buildings. The following months have seen an attempt to face the emergency by providing the first aid and services to the wounded population, but major questions are still unanswered: what is the future of Amatrice and its inhabitants? What will remain of the city after the tremendous catastrophe? What will be changed? The project tries to give an answer to these questions reflecting upon the role of architecture in situation of catastrophic events. What can architecture do after a catastrophe?Which is its role in the process of reconstruction?How to rebuild a city completely wiped out by the catastrophe? What to keep? What to give back? What to add? What to erase?