Architecture of the Abandonment

This research explores the socio/spatial potentialities of what is marginal in the architecture realm. It starts as a repertoire of experiences, architectural projects and socio-political cases related to themes such as ephemeral architecture, industrial archaeology, self-constructions and bottom-up participative processes. Questions that guided me have been: how can a community live and ensure a beneficial reciprocal symbiosis with other communities, nature and the environment? If we imagine the territory as a dynamic network of abandoned areas, how would the identity of these change during the experiences of human temporal appropriation? The intent was to investigate and reformulate them to rethink an alternative way for humans to inhabit and shape the built environment.

I proceeded by studying the working principles and spatial qualities of an abandoned metal industry as a potential site where to develop the scenario. Through a series of collages, drawings and an interactive model, I narrated two speculative stories of groups of humans temporarily inhabiting the abandoned industrial site. Could these alternative dwelling practices potentially be applied to other sites, on different scales?