"Only that Endures which Changes"

Zagreb, Croatia. I was only here long enough to find two sites of interest, the first (below), is the Badel Factory. A large group of architects who discuss and plan installations to provoke public debate, by the name of Platforma 9,81, once installed neon red lights inside this building for several weeks on end. My guess is that they were trying to call attention to this unused and exciting building. It's future remains unclear, and unfortunately I was not able to get inside to see whether saving it would be feasible. For now it is home to cats, boxes, occasional neon lights...

Tvornica Fabryka was built in 1840 as an oil refinery. It is one little Italianate palace of a factory that I stumbled upon while lost one afternoon. Although it was clearly squatted at one point, it's future is grim. The last photo tells much about the future of this particular factory, and many such places in Zagreb.

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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