From Sites of Fear to Spaces of Memory: Architectural Strategies for Former Detention Buildings in Syria

Abstract

Arbitrary detention in Syria under the Assad regime functioned as a political tool to suppress opponents, leaving behind buildings burdened with trauma and loss. Today, former detention centers stand as material witnesses to violence empty yet saturated with untold stories. This research approaches these sites as architectural and civic resources rather than structures to be erased. It asks: how can former detention sites in Syria be transformed into spaces of memory, justice, and collective healing while preserving the integrity of their painful histories? The study is grounded in theories of collective memory, architectural memory, transitional justice, and collective psychological healing. It explores how architecture can operate as a mediating framework between documentation, remembrance, and future-oriented transformation. Methodologically, the research employs qualitative approaches, including interviews with survivors, families of the missing, and human rights organizations, alongside a survey that ensures the participation of affected communities in decision-making processes. International case studies of sites memorialized after periods of violence are analyzed comparatively to extract spatial strategies of preservation, intervention, and reinterpretation. A field-based investigation of Sednaya Prison in Syria forms the basis for the design exploration. The design research tests varying degrees of architectural intervention, from minimal preservation to adaptive reuse, in order to evaluate how spatial strategies can acknowledge trauma without aestheticizing or neutralizing it. The expected outcome consists of design proposals and strategic guidelines for the sustainable reuse of former detention sites, contributing to the formulation of a context-sensitive architectural framework in a post-conflict Syrian setting. By articulating spatial tools for engaging with difficult heritage, the research seeks to position architecture as an active participant in processes of justice, remembrance, and societal reconstruction.