Abstract
Abstract
Within the framework of contemporary urban transformation, work with obsolete industrial sites has intensified, identifying densification and retrofitting as strategies, and the compact living city as a goal (Busquets, 2007). In this situation, the site provides a present, physical location for future projects with a set of pre-established givens. Although problems relating to the transformation and densification of urban areas may have some common denominators, post-industrial sites describe a particular situation regarding contemporary interpretation and re-use.
These sites are anomalies in their contemporary contexts and site specificity is a decisive factor with this type of urban transformation, raising questions of the spatial and temporal capacities of these sites. Furthermore, methods for dealing with the re-use of post-industrial sites meet with a number of challenges. Among them, and of specific interest here are the following two: 1) the temporal placement of these sites through their history versus the potential for their continued existence in changed contexts; and 2) the physical presence of these sites through their size and materiality versus the perception of their scale and obsolescence. These factors and points from which to view post-industrial areas bring time, space, perception and aesthetic considerations to the forefront of understanding and transforming these sites. Consequently, they become key in developing methods that can lead to transformative acts.
This paper explores the specific spatial and temporal features of post-industrial sites as a generator for developing methods to uncover and emphasise the intrinsic potential of these sites. This will be exemplified through the specific case of a laboratory conducted within the framework of a 2nd semester Masters Students’ project undertaking transformative acts on the site of the Battersea Power Station in London.
Keywords: Urban transformation, post-industrial sites, retrofit, contemporaneity, phenomenology, atmosphere, aesthetics, the sublime, design method
Within the framework of contemporary urban transformation, work with obsolete industrial sites has intensified, identifying densification and retrofitting as strategies, and the compact living city as a goal (Busquets, 2007). In this situation, the site provides a present, physical location for future projects with a set of pre-established givens. Although problems relating to the transformation and densification of urban areas may have some common denominators, post-industrial sites describe a particular situation regarding contemporary interpretation and re-use.
These sites are anomalies in their contemporary contexts and site specificity is a decisive factor with this type of urban transformation, raising questions of the spatial and temporal capacities of these sites. Furthermore, methods for dealing with the re-use of post-industrial sites meet with a number of challenges. Among them, and of specific interest here are the following two: 1) the temporal placement of these sites through their history versus the potential for their continued existence in changed contexts; and 2) the physical presence of these sites through their size and materiality versus the perception of their scale and obsolescence. These factors and points from which to view post-industrial areas bring time, space, perception and aesthetic considerations to the forefront of understanding and transforming these sites. Consequently, they become key in developing methods that can lead to transformative acts.
This paper explores the specific spatial and temporal features of post-industrial sites as a generator for developing methods to uncover and emphasise the intrinsic potential of these sites. This will be exemplified through the specific case of a laboratory conducted within the framework of a 2nd semester Masters Students’ project undertaking transformative acts on the site of the Battersea Power Station in London.
Keywords: Urban transformation, post-industrial sites, retrofit, contemporaneity, phenomenology, atmosphere, aesthetics, the sublime, design method
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Nordic Journal of Architectural Research |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 35-63 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISSN | 1893-5281 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- design method
- Urban transformation
- post-industrial sites
- retrofit
- contemporaneity
- phenomenology
- atmosphere
- aesthetics
- the sublime