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- Herausgeber: Bentham Science Publishers
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Our urban landscapes are filled with "leftovers" — abandoned buildings and unused spaces, remnants of industrial decline and societal transformations. Regeneration of Abandoned Spaces: A New Design Approach investigates how design and architecture can revitalize these neglected areas, transforming them into dynamic, livable environments.
This book is organized into three parts, each providing a comprehensive framework for addressing this multifaceted challenge. Part One explores the dynamic nature of modern living spaces and how interior design can adapt to the fluid lifestyles of contemporary nomads. It delves into advanced drawing techniques that capture the intricate complexities of these evolving environments.
Part Two focuses on the philosophical aspects of design, particularly within exhibition design, examining how unfinished spaces can evoke deep emotional responses. It explores the role of temporary installations in revitalizing urban areas, demonstrating how ephemeral interventions can catalyze long-term renewal.
The final section, Part Three, addresses the concept of ""unfinished design"" in architecture, showcasing successful projects from around the world. It emphasizes the aesthetic and functional benefits of embracing imperfections and repurposing abandoned spaces. This part provides practical strategies and inspiring examples, illustrating how adaptive reuse and incompleteness can lead to sustainable and inclusive urban regeneration.
Regeneration of Abandoned Spaces: A New Design Approach is an essential resource for professionals, urban planners, and anyone passionate about urban architecture and renewal. Combining theoretical insights with practical guidance, it equips readers with the tools and knowledge needed to reimagine and reconstruct our cities, fostering a more sustainable and inclusive future.
Readership
Professionals and students in the field or urban planning, landscaping and restoration projects.
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Seitenzahl: 245
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Translation, Adaptation, and Layout Design By:
This book is the translated and adapted version of L. Crespi. (2023). “Design del non-finito. L’interior design nella rigenerazione degli “avanzi”, Milan: Postmedia Books.
The photo on the cover: Giuseppe Pagano (1920’s), Former Hangar on the Ticino River, Pavia, Italy, Photo by Beatrice Fontana, Simona Magnano, Bingquan Xu
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FOREWORD
Abstract
Pratt Institute, USA
Regeneration of Abandoned Spaces: A New Design Approach is both an imaginative and theoretical book, and also an edifying and practical one. It presents many facets of the continuously transforming study of the built environment by suggesting a layered and multi-disciplinary approach to urban, architectural, and interior design thinking and praxis. Architect and retired full Professor Luciano Crespi who taught at the Polytechnic University of Milan in the Design Department, has published prolifically to test and tackle a variety of questions and situations that allow for representing and recontextualizing what is often overlooked or subjugated to disciplinary silos. His important and timely books and articles boldly integrate theories of phenomenology, performance, exhibition, materiality, atmosphere, ecology, aesthetics, and interiority to explore and express how the socio-spatial conditions of urbanism, interiors, and architecture may be integrated, and also reoriented. Though seemingly general, Crespi’s lens is actually a specific point of view with a generative structure of belief that relies on these varied voices to produce keen observations, analyses, and critiques of places. He carefully brings attention to the many frameworks that surround a design culture of building new, yet with an eye towards recognizing the opportunities for regeneration of existing sites and a reclaiming of their attributes. Therefore, Professor Crespi’s direction implores us to navigate these parameters to expose new methods for urban characterization.
As one of several now working to explore, articulate, and, thus, shift the edges and boundaries of how we study the surroundings and our role in it; we must acknowledge that defining the interior separately from the exterior has become blurred, or even unnecessary, depending on the conditions or issues. One of the main positions Professor Crespi takes in the Regeneration of Abandoned Spaces is to disallow the notion of the interior to be usurped or bundled only under architecture, as expressed by many scholars and practitioners. When reading his eight chapters, Crespi deftly immerses us in a fascinating variety of topics and a range of perspectives to expand the discourse. He provocatively terms potential design “paradigms” as “leftovers” or “abandoned” to develop what he calls “manifestos.” These ideas provide context for the invited opening essay by Martí Guixé who reconsiders what she calls collective interiors, and the later chapter by Davide Fassi on tactical urbanism. All of the writings direct the reader to take hold of a particular design philosophy made up of a series of theoretical explanations set alongside short case studies composed of well-known and what he calls “unheard-of” projects of different scales, types, and landscapes, largely situated in the 20th and 21st centuries.
By combining both personal and universal narratives to compel us “to reflect on how crucial it is to take care of what we have,” Professor Luciano Crespi illustrates the wide breadth of his environmental thinking and realization. He leads us towards a “new wave” of innovative design and reuse attitudes that challenge us by optimistically declaring that the “unthinkable can be thought.” Thus, Crespi unabashedly repositions how we might consider developing a conscious and fresh stance on what surrounds us.
PREFACE
Throughout history, there has been a prevailing tendency to prioritize new and shiny structures, often neglecting the leftovers of the past. However, in recent years, a powerful movement has emerged, one that celebrates the unfinished, the imperfect, and the abandoned. This movement recognizes the inherent value and transformative possibilities that lie within these spaces, breathing new life into them and turning them into vibrant and meaningful places. Leftover spaces, often disregarded or inaccessible, offer an opportunity for temporary, cost-effective interventions that elevate local aesthetics and living standards. They serve as dynamic canvases for creative expression, innovation, and the celebration of community identity. Effectively repurposing these spaces is a crucial challenge with substantial implications for environmental sustainability and social well-being.
This book delves into the concept of 'leftovers' in architecture and design, unearthing the hidden potential within abandoned spaces often unnoticed in our fast-paced society. It uncovers various projects that embrace the philosophy of the unfinished, breathing new life into forgotten places while preserving their historical significance. From repurposed mills and forgotten buildings to reclaimed urban spaces, these projects demonstrate the power of preservation, adaptation, and innovation. Spanning different countries and cultures, these examples reveal the universal nature of the leftovers phenomenon, inspiring readers to see the beauty in imperfection and the possibilities in the overlooked. As you delve into the stories behind these remarkable projects, you will discover how designers and architects have reimagined abandoned spaces, drawing inspiration from their history, character, and unique qualities. Through sensitive interventions and thoughtful design, they have created spaces that not only honor the past but also embrace the present and future. These projects serve as a testament to the transformative potential of the unfinished and the remarkable ability to reimagine what once seemed forgotten.
This book goes beyond showcasing extraordinary projects; it also delves into the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of this movement. We explore concepts such as the beauty of imperfection, the significance of memory, and the essential role of community engagement in shaping these spaces. Only then, through compelling case studies and influential figures in design, we can explore the intricate language of unfinished design across various artistic disciplines. As we delve deeper, our focus shifts to the heart of urban innovation and its dynamic approach to sustainability and inclusivity. We examine tactical urbanism strategies, highlighting the vital role of collective action and interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping future cities.
This collection stands as a testament to the joint endeavors of people, organizations, and forward-thinkers, dedicated to not just redefining spaces but reshaping our collective existence. I hope this work inspires those dedicated to revitalizing our urban stories, bringing forth an era where every aspect reflects the potential of new beginnings and endless possibilities.
May this journey spark inspiration and dialogue, fostering a compassionate and sustainable future. As a former student of Prof. Crespi at the Polytechnic University of Milan, I take pride in my collaboration on the preparation of the English version, reflecting on the significance of repurposing abandoned buildings, a key theme within this book. Welcome to a world where untold stories emerge from leftovers, where the past meets the present, and the unfinished inspires possibility.
INTRODUCTION
Interior Design: Toward a New Aesthetic
Luciano CrespiAbstract
The explosion of neo-nomadism and the proliferation worldwide of a new kind of unused spaces, referred to as “Leftovers,” pose unresolved theoretical challenges: What role can interior design assume in the urgent matter of regenerating disused buildings and revitalizing urban open spaces? Can it herald a new aesthetic of environments, capable of representing the anxieties and peculiarities of contemporary ways of living?
The unstoppable global spread of the neo-nomadism phenomenon, driven by climate change and conflicts, imposes a radical shift in the approach to the matter of design. This book aims to provide answers to these inquiries through a comprehensive investigation spanning architecture, design, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and music. It documents the most representative experiences in terms of geographical distribution, diverse utilization purposes, and formal rigor concerning the adoption of a new design approach in transforming these spaces, defined as The Design of The Unfinished.
The book is aimed at professionals, administrators, and economic operators interested in contributing to the reuse and re-functionalization of abandoned spaces, present in most post-industrial metropolises, by experimenting with low-cost, reversible intervention methods that can facilitate the rapid reintegration of these environments with reduced use of resources, to meet the new demands for livable spaces expressed by contemporary neo-nomads.
In the post face to the book Design of the Unfinished: A New Way of Designing Leftovers Regeneration, Cesare Stevan identifies mainly two themes that seem to require further investigation (Stevan, 2021). The first concerns the search for the reasons that led to the worldwide diffusion of the phenomenon of abandoning buildings, defined in the text as leftovers, which do not fall into the category of former industrial areas. They appear completely different from those that led to the closure/disposal of factories and are at the origin of an irreversible upheaval of the layouts of the contemporary city, often concerning places located deep within the heart of the city itself. The second theme is related to the need to evaluate the consequences of neo-nomadism, as a characteristic phenomenon of the present time, on contemporary ways of living and on the irreducibility of certain values that the notion of interiority still preserves, even in times of radical cultural and social changes.
In the comments following the publication of Design of the Unfinished, there was also an objection that the approach proposed to address the issue of regenerating “leftovers”, although considered interesting and suggestive, may clash with the rigidity of existing regulations, particularly in Italy. Indeed, the objection is not without merit. However, our aim is to demonstrate a multitude of global experiences, meticulously analyzed and documented in the latter part of this book, which strongly align with the proposed approach. These experiences convincingly embrace the regeneration of “leftovers”, acknowledging them not merely as social assets but also as entities deserving dedicated protection under the application of technical regulations and various rules.
The world of contemporary interiors is approached here from a completely eccentric perspective compared to what is commonly understood as interior design or interior architecture. This discipline continues to enjoy immense public consensus, which considers it a skill aimed at enhancing the places we inhabit, especially our homes, and consequently enriching our lives with happiness. This notion is reinforced by the media, fostering the idea that anyone practicing this profession enjoys immense prestige, lucrative incomes, and an enviable lifestyle. However, finding a clear understanding of what this field truly entails is not aided by the encyclopedic websites available online, including the widely visited Wikipedia. Under the entry for Interior Architecture, it states: “Interior architecture or interior design (sometimes designated by the hybrid: interior design, or the anglicism: interior design) is the design of spaces and common-use objects within an enclosed place, whether it be a private residence, a commercial establishment, a reception space, or a workspace.” It emphasizes the focus on “particular attention to practical and functional aspects of living in the space.” Analogous to Adolf Loos' memorable definition of an architect as “a bricklayer who has studied Latin” (Loos, 1972), one might infer from this description that an Interior Designer could be viewed as “a decorator who has studied construction management.” The accompanying bibliography, an amalgamation of technical manuals, texts on decoration, historical essays, and theoretical books, doesn't offer much clarity either. Amidst this compilation lies my own publication, Da spazio nasce spazio (Crespi, 2013), primarily directed at Interior Design students. Its purpose is to guide them through design projects that introduce innovative spatial devices capable of challenging common clichés and stereotypes while appropriately responding to new ways of inhabiting spaces and experimenting with novel aesthetic codes. Andrea Branzi, in the preface, notes that the book is born with the intention of “demonstrating that the design of interior spaces constitutes an activity with autonomous cultural foundations” and that the discipline of Interior Design has assumed a crucial role in the process of transforming and repurposing the contemporary city. Two publications: Progettare l'architettura d'interni [Design the interior architecture] and Lezioni di Interior Design [Interior Design lessons], along with The Contemporary Interior Landscape [The Contemporary Interior Landscape], a manifest for the Interior Design degree program, stand as exceptions to this vague approach in addressing the subject matter.
Designing Interior Architecture (Brooker & Stone, 2010) is an authoritative book. Graeme Brooker, the director of the Interior Design course at the Royal College of London, and Sally Stone, the director of the MA Architecture and Adaptive Reuse program at the Manchester School of Architecture, have compiled a structured collection of exemplary works within various sections. These sections include Designing, Existing Buildings, Methods of Space Organization, Interactive Interiors, Autonomous Interiors, and Elements Organizing Space. The section dedicated to design contains the most relevant topics in an attempt to define the notion of interior design. Interior architecture, interior design, and interior decoration are defined as nuances of the different attitudes towards reusing existing spaces. They are described as follows: “Interior architecture deals exclusively with the adaptation of existing buildings,” bridging the gap between interior design and architecture. “Interior design is an interdisciplinary practice concerned with creating interior environments that articulate identity and atmosphere,” predominantly achieved through furnishings and surface treatment. “Interior decoration is the art of organizing interior spaces in a way that imparts a particular character that aligns with the existing architecture.” The original version of this book, written in English in 2007, explains why each of these three attitudes is still associated with historically established disciplines: architecture, design, and exhibition. Though subtle, signs of change are emerging within the interior design profession, evidenced in some parts of the world of interior projects, one of which was the establishment of the Design Faculty at the Politecnico di Milano in 20001, with Alberto Seassaro as dean and, within it, the Interior Design degree program, led by its first president, Andrea Branzi. In 2010, Branzi authored the entry “Interni” [Interiors] for the Treccani Encyclopedia, where he argued for the necessity to combat “an old academic hierarchy, partly confirmed by the Modern Movement, which saw the city as the realm of fundamental decisions, architecture as the realization of formal qualities, and interior design as a minor activity lacking genuine cultural autonomy. This essay aims to demonstrate that the design of interior spaces constitutes an activity with autonomous cultural foundations, separate from the idea that there can still exist an objective unity between urban logic, architectural quality, and interior design. These theoretical foundations form the bedrock of the educational model of the degree program, which in 2012, took on the competition with other interior design schools worldwide through an ambitious publication that serves as a true manifesto of the Milan Bovisa interior design school's studies.
The book, curated by Giampiero Bosoni, Agnese Rebaglio, and Francesco Scullica, bears the title The Contemporary Interior Landscape (Bosoni, Rebaglio, & Sculica, 2012) and openly declares its detachment from an interpretation of Interior Design merely as a discipline responsible for selecting furnishings within an environment, urging instead for an expansion of its realm of expertise (Crespi & Dell'Acqua Bellavitis, 2012). Organized into thematic sections such as The Hospitable City, Anthropology of Habitat, Urban Stage/Urban Spectacle, Interior Design and Branding, Mobile Domesticity, and Interiors and Art, the book does not present a list of teachings or skills to market in the global educational landscape. Rather, it embodies a cultural manifesto centered on the notion that the degree program's task is to mold an original figure capable of riding the waves of change sweeping through the contemporary city, which is no longer “an assemblage of architectural boxes” but an orchestrated “territory of people, services, objects, information, immaterial relationships, scenes, and performances” (Branzi, 2012). To achieve this, the designer must engage in a dialogue with the vast world of disciplines situated on the fringes of the design sphere, especially in the realm of visual arts, sharing the same humanistic, rather than purely technical, vision of life's phenomena.
Lezioni di Interior design (Nicolin, 2020) collects the lectures held over a decade by Pierluigi Nicolin, professor and director of Lotus, at the Interior Design degree course of the Polytechnic University of Milan. The manner in which the subject is approached is captivating and unconventional. Firstly, the choice of themes deviates entirely from traditional classifications based on types of spaces (dwellings, workplaces, study areas, etc.) or subsystems belonging to the interior space. The chapters concern: Threshold and boundary, Architectural spaces, Layers and surfaces, Camouflage, Microenvironment, Shelter, Ground, and aim to represent the extensive realm that stretches between buildings and objects, individuals and their environment, and the confined and the open. e tone is that of one who employs language to construct mental shortcuts, effortlessly traversing the spheres of architecture, art, photography, and philosophy. The chapter “Threshold and boundary” is crucial for grasping the reference system within which the notion of interiority is situated: “Due to its spiritualism, the notion of interiority escapes mere spatial definition, it does not allow us to locate in a 'where' the place of consciousness, thought, etc… In essence, we realize that interiority and exteriority can only be defined in their reciprocal relationship” (Nicolin, 2020, p. 7). Starting from this consideration, the text delves into a sort of conceptual labyrinth and the topics are strongly heterogeneous, jumping from categories of the universal nature of space - which dig into the configuration of soils, such as the theme of traces, or in the quality of the atmosphere, such as blurring, or around the notion of above and below - to very specific themes, such as that of shelters. However, the text always manages to maintain the same gaze capable of observing things from above, without falling into the specialisms of the discipline, thanks also to another peculiarity, represented by the role of images. They are used “not only for their expressive and artistic value but to suggest to those who are developing the project a given direction. Unlike a lesson in art history, it is not just a matter of explaining images, but of arriving at that metaphorical interpretation from which the transfer of meaning from the original image to that of a project still in formation phase begins.”
It is not a coincidence that this type of reflection has found the most suitable institutional environment to flourish within the Interior Design degree program. The same environment where the didactic experiments, by Cesare Stevan in his essay, have found asylum - experiments which I have conducted for over a decade within a third-year design workshop - represents the cultural background of this publication.2 This work addresses the issues of contemporary neo-nomadism and the proliferation of “leftovers” across the entire planet as conditions that have given rise to an approach marking a significant paradigm shift in design practice. This approach can be described as the “Design of the Unfinished”3 . In the concluding section of a text published in the journal edA in 2021, I describe the approach in the following terms: “By adopting a transdisciplinary approach, it entails embracing within the project, as a gift, the elements of decay present in the existing work, and translating them into expressions governed by a syntax aimed at bestowing it with a renewed identity. 'Gift' here takes on the sense attributed by Marcel Mauss in his celebrated essay, as something given and to be reciprocated.” In archaic societies, it represents not a free practice, but a social obligation. The project of leftovers assumes a broader value as an experimentation of “an interdisciplinary discipline”, situated between design, interior design, arts, restoration, exhibition design, scenography, cinema, and anthropology, whose objective is to elaborate an aesthetics of leftovers. Furthermore, it would be even more fitting to speak of the 'design of the unfinished' as a perspective to imbue the spaces to be regenerated with a hospitable yet representative character of the conditions of temporariness, precariousness, and transculturality inherent to contemporaneity, regardless of their intended function” (Crespi, 2021) (Figs. 1 to 7).
This is by no means a trivial task. It entails designing these spaces while navigating along the border, assuming an uncomfortable position. Navigating along the border involves tacking, a challenge that appears paradoxical. Going against the current requires muscular effort. Resilience - a term now excessively used, once studied for a chemistry exam - is an act of will, founded on the ability to confront difficulties. Embracing drift, in the sense described by Guy Debord, is a “more general way of taking life,” related to “flânerie”. Tacking, in a sense, involves reclaiming “métis”, being cleverer than the wind, finding the right angle to proceed even when the wind blows against you; Almost a violation of the laws of physics. Navigating along the edges is an extreme endeavor, which adds to the harshness of the task, the deliberate senselessness of traveling in a circumscribed territory, exploring a fringe, a margin, where navigation continually risks crashing against the shores that delimit it or seeming imprisoned by unheard-of forces. Similar to what occurs within the event horizon, that imaginary surface surrounding every black hole, escaping would require a speed greater than that of light. Thus, we can regard it as a zone beyond which it is no longer possible, not even for light, to return. Yet, it is precisely along those edges that the most unexpected events can occur, capable of subverting “the order of discourse,” even regarding disciplinary statutes.
Figs. (1 to 7)) Luciano and Marino Crespi, with Paolo Saluzzi, consultant Michele Angioletti, collaborators Giorgia Mol, Cecilia Valsecchi, Competition Project for the redevelopment of the former Montichiari Slaughterhouse, 2019.At this point, if we were to return to what was written at the beginning of the chapter and attempt to define an Interior Designer, one could say that it is “a scenographer who has studied anthropology.” All of this may seem trivial in the face of the huge challenges that the culture of design is called upon to address, such as the defense of the planet against climate change and environmental crises. However, one way, not the only one, to contribute to preventing the devastation of the territory is also to prevent occupying other unconstructed portions of it and to reuse its existing unused heritage. Even Lacaton and Vassal, winners of the 2021 Pritzker Prize, appeal to the need for designers to adopt a “frugal” perspective and avoid, as much as possible, interventions that involve the demolition of the existing: “Demolition is a waste of many things, a waste of energy, a waste of material, and a waste of history.” The terrible images of Ukraine, shaken by modern rockets launched by the Russian invader, striking both humans and landscapes, leave us dismayed and prompt questioning even within the world of design, as Cesare Stevan also observes, on what will have to be done once the war is ended. Rebuilding a territory in many parts razed to the ground is an incredible endeavor, and past models do not seem adequate. It further compels us to reflect on how crucial it is to take care of what we have, despite the damage caused by years of senseless occupation of the planet that hosts us.
