SHATTERED EXISTENCE / Zehiye Ünal
“Shattered Existence” is a social memory museum located in the Üngüt neighborhood of Kahramanmaraş, designed to ensure that the dark chapters of the past are not forgotten or erased. Positioned at the entrance of the district, which strives to preserve its cultural fabric and memory, the museum acts as both a physical and emotional threshold into Üngüt.
The project is more than a building—it is a narrative experience. The ground floor houses a public library, offering a space of knowledge, continuity, and civic engagement. The upper floor contains the main museum functions, structured around three major traumatic events: the War of Independence, the Alevi Massacre, and the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake. These exhibitions are designed to be emotionally striking, sometimes disturbing, to confront visitors with the weight of collective responsibility—especially in man-made disasters.
Between each exhibition hall, transitional spaces host monumental singular installations, creating moments of pause, reflection, and emotional processing. A light-filled corridor facing the inner courtyard allows for sensory relief and introspection. The corner dedicated to poems and letters touches on personal memory, while the final space features telephone booth–like rooms where visitors can sit alone, write, and leave their own traces behind.
The experience ends on a rooftop terrace that overlooks both the Üngüt neighborhood and its tumulus, reinforcing the continuity of memory in place. The project integrates deeply with its context, reminding visitors not only of the past’s weight but of their responsibility to the future.
