PAST EDEN: Reversing the narrative of adaptive reuse from the past to the future

Abstract

Historically the pragmatism of necessity and scarcity have been reasons for adapting existing buildings to accommodate for changing needs, a practice called adaptive reuse. Increased interest in the practice in the 70´s due to raised awareness of the necessity to conserve resources generated alternative approaches (Wong, 2017). The extent expanded and introduced transmission of past narratives and preservation of heritage, which is the prominent approach within theory on adaptive reuse (Plevoets & Cleempoel, 2023). This thesis criticizes adaptive reuse for its nostalgic tendencies, which are problematized and explained through the constant exposure to crisis and fatalistic narratives that render the future hopeless. This predisposes seeking certainty and stability in the known condition of the past (Bauman, 2017). The nostalgia emerges from a lack of hope for the future. Through the concept of crisis the thesis aims to challenge conventional strategies of adaptive reuse. The principles of aemulatio, an adaptive reuse approach aspiring to preserve the intention of the model while surpassing the original (Plevoets & Cleempoel, 2019), is applied to the development of the strategy. The aim is to reverse the narrative from focusing on the past to the future, anticipating contingency as potential instead of limitation. The theoretical framework consists of Lacaton & Vassal´s analysis of the existing, separating the continuous and changeable through the concept Hardware/Software by KOSMOS and two built cases; Thoravej 29 by Pihlmann Architects with cyclical transformation on all scales and Spore Initiative Auditorium by AFF Architekten that embraces patina as potential. The four approaches synthesize in a strategy of how to approach the existing through critical subtraction, addition and reconfiguration. The strategy is investigated through transforming the Old Court of Appeal situated in Renströmsparken, Gothenburg. The good condition and few interventions to the original design by Hakon Ahlberg in 1948, makes it subject to investigate the absence of nostalgia. The vision for the area as an epicenter for art, culture and humanities have shaped the program; a space for creation and sharing of knowledge through artistic practices in a public realm with interventions extending from urban scale to furniture.