"Only that Endures which Changes"

Skipping ahead to Leipzig for a moment, where I have been focusing on the "Leipziger BaumwollSpinnerei" (cotton spinning mill), which now houses many different kinds of artists and galleries.

Before the Baumwolle, however, I will just share a few quick impressions of the surrounding area. These photos and drawings are from an empty factory/housing complex in Gohlis, which you can see is very close to the city center. Leipzig and the surrounding area is, to a large extent, characterized by the symptoms of severe urban decline, which occured after the GDR dissolved. This factory is one of many, which, unlike the BaumwolleSpinnerei, remains empty and rotting.

Some quick impressions, drawn on scraps of the peeling wallpaper.

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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