Industrial Contexts / place_form_programme: The Architecture of Conversion 1990 – 2005 – 2015 – 2020

In a situation impacted by demolitions and the physical deterioration of industrial objects and by the pressure to demolish and to free up land for new construction but one in which also there has been increasing recognition over the years of other values – the meaning of a place, the remarkable qualities of form, the aim of the new programme, the architecture of conversions represents the consequence and outcome of a search for the right starting points, finding a balance between heritage protection, new creative interventions, and pragmatic recycling, an opportunity for bringing new ambitions to life, applying an artistic intention, and fulfilling business objectives, and a spontaneous effort to preserve what can still be preserved. It is a response to the changing atmosphere in society, a way of relating to the immediate environment, a more general tendency to create architectural work within a specific and often contentious context. The book presents the results of projects conducted over the course of five years (2015–2020) and ties in with previous events organised over the past thirty years, from the first Industrial Architecture / Unused Heritage exhibition to 12 Years Later, Vestiges of Industry, and What We Ourselves Demolished, to the exhibitions of the architecture of conversion organised in 2005 and 2014.