For a while
As the example of the demountable Bauhuas Re-Use pavilion has shown, not every remodeling or reuse has to be counted on for decades. Adaptability and reuse is also about safeguarding against waste and speculation, reviving abandoned places for the time between the loss of the original one and the giving of a new, targeted (at least in the perspective of several years) function.
The French pavilion at the recent 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale was devoted to such realizations. The exhibition titled Lieux Infinis, prepared by architects from the Encore Heureux group, told the story of revived spaces, often abandoned factories and public buildings, with the involvement of many actors - from local government to foundations to private owners.
The exhibition titled. "Lieux Infinis" by Encore Heureux
photo: Kacper Kepinski
One of the most interesting examples, not least because of the apparent impossibility of adaptation resulting from the building's former function (which turns out to be mere superstition), is the Les Grands Voisins project in Paris. Located in the 14th district of the French capital, the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital functioned until 2011. Its history dates back to 1638, when Vincent de Paul established a hospital for orphans (Hôpital des Enfants-Trouvés) at the site, later merged with the General Hospital of Paris. Decommissioning of the hospital began in 2004, and departments were moved to new facilities by the end of 2011. The city's long-term plans call for an environmental quarter to be built at the site. The project is focused on the construction of a quarter with a predominantly residential function, open to the city and characterized by high internal social diversity. The site is to become a model of green technology in construction, with green public space and agricultural areas.
Les Grands Voisins in Paris
Photo: Kacper Kepinski
The entire project will be carried out while preserving the hospital's architectural heritage and valorizing it. However, even before the official start of the project, temporary housing, workshops and service units have been set up in the buildings of the former hospital, managed by a group of NGOs. Since 2015, the Plateau Urbain, Aurore and Yes We Camp associations have been running a center at the site, with nearly 2,000 people living and working there. About 600 people used to live there permanently. This includes 240 people in a center for working foreigners, 30 people in housing for young migrants with integration and adoption programs, 45 people inhousing for stabilizing living situations, 25 people in a center for women, 92 people in housing for single adults with urgent housing needs, and 135 people in housing for people at risk of homelessness. A campground also operated on the hospital grounds. In addition to providing jobs and housing, the associations also carry out activation activities in the areas of culture, community involvement and social assistance. In such a small area, more than 140 organizations, businesses and workshops have operated in a few years, and 80 students attend the school located in the area.
Also in Poland, though occasionally, abandoned buildings are used for cultural purposes. In Krakow, the most iconic example is, of course, the building of the former Forum Hotel, where a whole range of entertainment- and commerce-related initiatives operate in the lower floors - from Forum Spaces, Club 89, Radiostation and the Thermal Baths.
The changing as in a kaleidoscope circle of tenants of this unusual, beautifully located space in an amazing building shows how much potential there is in abandoned buildings. Tytano, however, a complex focusing on nightlife and gastronomy in a former Krakow cigar factory on Dolnych Młynów Street, functions similarly.
The most significant example, however, remains the Cracovia Hotel - primarily because of the victorious struggle of community activists, artists and residents to save the iconic monument of socmodernism from destruction. The summary of this long-standing process was an exhibition prepared by the Institute of Architecture and dedicated to the building's author, Professor Witold Ceckiewicz. Presented in the interiors of the hotel, it recalled the years of its glory. Today, the building, which is partly rented for commercial outlets and cultural events, and partly used as a temporary storage facility for the National Museum in Krakow, awaits renovation and adaptation for one of the institution's new branches.
© Karol Samborski / National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, 2018
Thearchitecture of temporariness was also a topic to which the National Institute of Architecture and Urban ism devoted events organized on its first anniversary. Inside the abandoned Ilmet office building slated for demolition at Warsaw's UN Roundabout for one weekend, architects, activists and theorists discussed the possibilities and limits of reuse in architecture and urbanism in debates and an exhibition.
