Deconstruction - reconstruction - deconstruction

Abandoned warehouses viewed as a resource in building a new masterplan, resulting in a circular use of materials.

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Industrial and post-industrial areas of Antwerp

As industry has moved areas and buildings have been left behind, in close proximity to the city centre.

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District plan: existing and proposed masterplan

33 warehouses have been identified in the district of Den Dam, which lack potential for new uses and for creating public space. These can be deconstructed in order to create a new masterplan made up of the same materials.

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Catalogue of elements and materials

Elements and materials from the deconstruction process have been mapped and organised as a database for creating new buildings.

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Deconstruction and its potential

Model 1 shows a method of mental deconstruction as a way to study each element of the space and building in relation to its qualities of light, texture, tectonics and spatial qualities. Model 2 shows one way of testing the new uses of structural elements.

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A new public building

Through the thesis I have tested the extremes of reuse, in relation to its potential. A new public workshop and market building has been created with a very different expression to the material's original use.

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New uses of structural elements

The structure has been taken in use in different ways to allow for large and interesting spaces within.

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Combination of brick wall sections

To allow for minimal deconstruction of the original materials, bricks have been deconstructed as larger segments of wall. These have then been combined to create a regular grid form of a variety of brick patterns, allowing for it to be further deconstructed and reused in the future.

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New potential of elements

The main workshop space expresses the exposed steel, brick and corrugated metal sheets, keeping an industrial look but used in new ways. The spaces are lit by diffused daylight through large areas of polycarbonate sheets.

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Facades

The facades of the storage buildings and the workshops take in use a similar expression, only differenced by the glazing and the roof form.

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As a response to the expanding city and the large amounts of abandoned industrial warehouse areas, the thesis explores the possibilities of deconstructing abandoned industrial 20th Century buildings for the potential of reusing all their materials and elements to create new buildings for different functions.

Elements and materials from 20th Century warehouses that are considered to be of a low architectural value are taken in use for testing their ability and future as a base for new public buildings. A catalogue of elements can be used to promote the modern production of reuse and remaking, seen as an important and publicly accessible activity, therefore creating a monumental space expressing the importance of remaking in the modern world of consumerism.

I am testing this in the district of Den Dam in the north east of the city centre, where I have identified thirty three warehouses that are abandoned or that lack potential for adaptation for new use. All elements and materials that these buildings are made up of have been catalogued and studied, which has been taken in use when designing the new buildings. The entire masterplan is made up of new buildings, determined by the amount of materials available.

In order to test new expressions with the elements they have been tilted, rotated and combined in different ways, allowing larger spaces to be created and new textures to be explored.

The programme of the building explores the push of remaking, made up of workshops for professional and for public use. The process consists of a waste collection point, going through to workshop spaces, and with remade and fixed objects being sold at the market. Additionally there is a teaching facility for sharing the knowledge of making and remaking, so that it is accessible and available for
everyone.