"Only that Endures which Changes"

BERLIN UPDATE> First, thanks again to my amazing friends, for hosting me once again, "the International House of Manteuffel Str."- what a place.
On the way north from Budapest, I managed to check up on a few familiar sites and check on some new leads, back in Berlin. Here's some quick photos and drawings from three old sites, which have evolved and are looking good for the future.

Below, artist Leo Koningsberg (director of Bat15) in front of the nearly renovated Bat15 studio project. The ground in front has just been remediated (toxins in the soil left from operations as battery factory), and will soon be planted as a garden.

Elsewhere in the industrial region of Schonewiede, other renovations are moving slowly but solidly ahead- below, to be the Schauhallen art museum/gallery complex.

Improvements to the public areas have been completed since my last visit in Sept/Oct, such as this bridge. The postindustrial waterfront is being rediscovered, and well allocated between public and private use.

The RAW Tempel association, located in an old rail station in Friedrichstain, continues the struggle for their existance with the new land owners, who have in mind private housing blocks. RAW Tempel, however, has gained the overwhelming public support for a professionally drafted masterplan, which includes preservation of current operations and housing and retail units.

Below, the buildings which are not under historical preservation and are jepordized by the new ownership. RAW Tempel does not officially occupy these buildings.

Drawings, from the sites mentioned, and others from the past.

Bat 15

Stralauer Alle, glass factory

Stralauer Alle view

... take 2.

RAW Tempel

Schauhallen

Public space in Schoneweide

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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