Memorial 14 October.

I14 October 2017, the heart of Mogadishu was devasted by a terrible blast that killed at least 512 people and injured 400. This terroristic attack was the most devasting that Somalia faced in the last years, this event touched everyone from the north to the south of Somalia, the whole international community was close to the victims and families. After 27 years for the first time, everyone in Somalia was close to each other on the grief.

The memorial designed with the consulting of the Italian architect Matteo Ponsetti wants to give an answer to a series of the problem that the city of Mogadishu faces. Lack of public spaces open to all, security and "beauty" intended as improvement of urban livability. This memorial wants to fix in the memory of the people and the urban space of Mogadishu the terrible memory of this terrorist attack.

This memorial was not thought as a simple monument but more like a garden, which forced the visitor to feel the pain through a walk that crosses the 510 rectangles embedded in the ground, each of which represents a victim of the attack. These rectangles were designed with the same dimensions of a prayer rug so that it can also function as a spiritual gathering space. The path is bordered on both sides by these rectangles that force the visitor to cross the space that separates it from the actual monument in an emotional way. The end of the memorial leads to three large blocks containing respectively the names of the victims and the story of October 14th. For the purpose of making the garden open to the outside but at the same time protected from any accident, the perimeter is flanked by an alternation of pots containing plants and rectangular concrete blocks.