Urban spectacles, rural spectres
Wednesday, 12. September 2012 | 16:00 Uhr
Speaker
Organisation
Reporting
Professor Jane M. Jacobs from the University of Edinburgh addressed the issue of how architecture can help to preserve the memory of old buildings while developing new constructions. At the beginning of a building block, a model is developed. This was also the case in her example of the government financed construction of the tower buildings „RedRoad“ in Scotland, with 312 apart-ments in one building and a total of six buildings. At that time, the buildings were the highest con-struction in Europe and triggered a lot of enthusiasm. In October 1966, the works for the presenta-tion buildings with apartments for workers were officially inaugurated. The idea was that the steel construction can be adapted to the needs and will regenerate itself. However, the idea remained a vision. With the progress in architecture, “RedRoad” did not comply any more with the current con-struction requirements. In 2004, many apartments were empty and the decision was taken to de-molish the buildings. Contrary to expectations, the remaining occupants made considerable re-sistance. In order to learn for the future, the demolishment was documented. Afterwards, the art and exposition project “RedRoad in a Box” was launched. The aim of it is to serve as a place of memory, as knowledge transfer and digital archive.
