"Only that Endures which Changes"

Photos from Linz, Austria. First, thank you so much to my good friends- host, (Drew, left), and travel partner Kate (right). For the last month I have been moving quickly from Austria, through the Balkans, toward Istanbul, in search of warmer climates. I stopped drawing outside for the past month, because of the cold, but the photos continue. The drawing will hopefully resume in Istanbul, where I'll spend up two months and be able to dive deeper into sites.

The following are of Voest Alpine, steel manufactory, which was originally under the Third Reich, with Hitler's intention to transform Linz into the industrial capital of Europe. Production is still underway, the site is massive and looks like an industrial moonscape, sim city of sorts.

PROJECT

My aim over the next year is to address a long-standing personal inquiry about the social role of architecture. After exposure to cases of industrial adaptive re-use (converted textile mills and factories), I found this alternative kind of (alternative to?) architecture, often a provocative challenge to common precepts about the built environment. These buildings are timepieces of the industrial revolution, often since abandoned, leaving holes in the fabric of once lively urban centers. These buildings shared similar historical functions, but because of their inherently flexible and expansive nature of industry-suited design, their adaptive potentials are diversified and versatile. Such massive abandoned spaces invite imagination and require resourcefulness- they attract an eclectic mix of artists and visionaries looking for big, cheap space in the 21st century, post industrial urban context.
This trend proliferates in regions of Europe, perhaps where there are favorable economic or cultural conditions (labor cheaper than materials, for instance), or some ingrained penchant for recycling versus building anew.
I hope to find out more about progressive ways to shape our built environment through specific examples across Europe, that address environmental and social concerns (energy and raw material consumption, and urban regeneration). Primarily I will be drawing sites, because drawing conduces dialog between mind and subject more than passive or removed observation techniques. (i.e., I am no photographer, but these are snapshots for reference and to share with you!)

"Only that Endures which Changes" - Janis Rainis

Site Itinerary - so far, *upcoming

PROJECT

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