Soon to Disappear is a local augmented reality app that celebrates cherished buildings that are going to disappear from the city of Geneva in the near future. The project came from a body of research gathered from walks through the city, observation and collection of captivating stories and memories associated with these locations. During my field research I asked communities to draw and illustrate their relationship to buildings around them that were about to be demolished. Those drawings were used as a foundation to build the interactive experience of the app.

When engaging with the app, the users are invited to leave their mark by drawing in augmented reality on the buildings’ walls and to experience a series of narratives. Each virtual drawing and associated story adds to a collective creation, forming a digital archive that preserves the memories held within these places.