Workshop 3:
Industrial Buildings - New Uses


Purpose - Objectives

Students acquire specialized theoretical knowledge regarding the documentation, preservation, and repurposing with new uses of remnants from industrial heritage. They develop skills and sensitivities to approach these issues with the attention and multidisciplinary approach required. The need to correlate reuse proposals and any interventions with the needs of the city is emphasized, as well as the impacts they may have on the social, cultural, and economic life of its residents.

The aim of the course is to investigate the methodology for approaching such issues. These do not only concern the buildings themselves but also the electromechanical equipment, business archives, workers' housing, and all material and immaterial evidence that provides information about the establishment, operation, and involvement of factories in the functions of the city and the region where they developed.

The initial view of total demolition has been abandoned internationally and has given way to the demand for thorough investigation of possibilities for partial or total preservation while integrating new uses into the abandoned industrial shells.

The history of restorations and functional reuse, whether in terms of specific interventions in individual buildings, complexes, and ensembles, or entire industrial areas, has proven to be a great opportunity for urban planning, traffic, and urban interventions that can radically rejuvenate degraded areas of cities.
The preservation of industrial heritage must be a conscious choice and part of a new strategy for the city, which embraces its historical past while redefining its relationship with it.

Teaching Modules
The course is organized into the following teaching modules:

  1. Historical Overview: The phenomenon of industrialization in Europe and Greece.
  2. Industrial Heritage, Industrial Archaeology, Conventions, International Organizations.
  3. Training in Industrial Heritage Issues in Greece.
  4. Documentation – Preservation – Conservation – Reuse of Industrial Heritage.
  5. Examples of Industrial Site Reuse in Greece – Discussion – Evaluation.
  6. Examples of Industrial Site Reuse in Europe – Discussion – Evaluation.
  7. Conclusions.

Teaching Methods
The activities of the course follow four main axes:

  1. Lectures by the instructors and specialized researchers.
  2. Visits to areas and factories that are already operating with new uses, including tours and discussions with users and researchers.
  3. Presentation of examples (P.P.) from Greece and abroad, with the development of a productive dialogue on successful and unsuccessful models of utilization.
  4. Semester Exercise: A choice of an abandoned industrial building or complex, with a proposal for its complete upgrading (functional, structural-constructional, and energy-related) through the integration of new uses. The exercise is typically a group project (2 or 3 students, depending on the scale of the intervention).