Attention ongoing care: Maintenance and repair at farsta sports field

Abstract

Attention! Ongoing Care is a thesis that explores what care can be in architecture and how caring can be applied through maintenance and repairs of buildings in a context determined by limited resources. In current architectural discourse, there is an increasing desire to move away from harmful practices, including demolishing buildings for new construction, non-holistic extraction, and an emission intensive building industry. Instead, care, maintenance, and repair, as well as the labour involved in these activities, have been defined as key topics. In this thesis, however, actions such as renovation, transformation, maintenance, and repair are not considered inherently sustainable. Rather, the thesis places careful consideration regarding who performs these acts, what resources are used, how they are carried out, and what consequences they entail. The thesis has two points of departure. The first is a study of current discourse of care. The second point is a study of everyday sports facilities in Southern Stockholm. These facilities are high in use and are exposed to heavy wear and tear, thus making them ideal for an investigation of care. Further, they are cared for by several different groups and governed by several interests, thus actualising questions such as who cares for whom. These studies, combined with explorative investigations of the studied sports fields, are presented as Learning from Farsta Sports Field. The implementation of the approach is prompted by the need for care in the day-to-day operation of Farsta Sports Field, and for future maintenance and repair of the facilities. A scenario in which the resources and responsibilities of the caregivers are increased, is developed. Utilizing existing resources at site, a workshop and depot to store materials and equipment, is added. The design considers the use of on-site or reclaimed resources, functionality for the caregivers, and the ease of future maintenance. Several interventions in the ice hockey rink are made based on opportunities offered by the new workshop and from learnings and design translations of the discourse. The thesis concludes with a manifesto for how to apply an approach of care in architecture and work as a guide for future maintenance and repair.