The next track: Transforming a train workshop into a cultural meeting place

Abstract

De-industrialization has resulted in many abandoned industrial buildings and the growth of our cities have motivated adaptive reuse of these buildings to become increasingly common. Balancing future visions with preserving historical values is an important part of these projects and according to Benjamin Franger (Douet J. 2013, p. 110) there are many strategies for this. The aim of this thesis is to explore how cultural historical values can be defined and which strategies can and should be used to reflect that in the choices of what to preserve, modify, add an accentuate. Old industrial sites are often great meeting places, inspiring environments and, before they are transformed, the rents are often low. This makes these areas well suited for new creatives initiatives. Another challenge during these projects is to make the areas pleasant and attractive without having excessive rises in property values driving these initiatives away. So, another aim of the thesis is to explore how industrial sites can maintain well suited as meeting places for a diversity of creative initiatives. This is explored by studying the transformation of the train carriage workshop of Lokstallarna in Malmö and proposing how it can be used in the future. The explorations consist of analysing the context, interviewing actors involved in the transformation process, studying literature and reference projects, and making design explorations concerning program, volume, circulation and material choices. The outcome of the explorations is that the aspects of the site that is increasing the understanding of how it was originally used is of higher historical value than the physical building elements. The movement created by the line of production is important, and creating similar movement for the new functions is a way reflect this in the design. Differentiating new additions from the exiting using modern materials and production methods makes the project true to the layers of time. Yet, cohesion in colour scheme and character of materials bring harmony between old and new. A slow process where the site has a wide range of activities and more established actors can help lift new initiatives is a way to promote creative diversity. Creating safe and convenient walking paths between apartments and the cultural actors is another.