Existing spaces should be used, renovated, adapted, or extended whenever and wherever possible. Repairing and maintaining existing buildings can sustainably create affordable spaces for living and culture. However, new construction is a very resource-intensive task. That is why the commitment to building transformation is an essential part of the work against the climate crisis and for a green and just transition.
The discursive-performative event program of Tomorrow Is Already Built lifts the topic of transforming existing spaces to the European level. Together, the project partners will stage a multi-part negotiation process consisting of workshops and a film screening to ‘gather evidence’, a conference with experts to ‘hear witnesses’, and a performative ‘negotiation’. The image of the negotiation argues that the speculative and climate-harmful handling of our built environments is a public matter that must be negotiable.
ARCH+: Renegotiating the Future of Our Urban Space
The construction industry is one of the key contributors to the climate crisis. Although more and more is being built, many people can no longer afford housing or cultural spaces. Against this backdrop, our new funding project by ARCH+ shows what potential can be found in the transformation of existing buildings and the renegotiation of spaces.
September 26, 2024
Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB Architects: Sesc 24 de Maio, conversion of an office building in São Paulo © Ciro Miguel
Tomorrow Is Already Built
Project description
“Wherever and whenever possible, existing spaces should be used, renovated, adapted, or extended.”Daniel Kuhnert, ARCH+
Gathering evidence will consist of workshops on how to treat our built environment as well as a screening of The Demolition Drama by HouseEurope! so as to uncover arguments, narratives, and reservations, communicate them in an accessible way, and discuss them in a professional and public manner. The witness hearing will take place as a conference at the museum for architecture CIVA, inviting experts from all over Europe to exchange views on successful approaches as well as financial, legal, and architectural challenges for a spatial practice of repair and maintenance. The project will conclude with a public negotiation at the PATHOS theater, which will discuss the results in form of a performance; communicating the cautious handling of our built environment in a manner that is accessible and effective beyond a specialized audience.
With an artistic-architectural intervention, the VerhandelBar, ARCH+ recently joined forces with JustizzentrumErhalten/ AbbrechenAbbrechen and PointOfNoReturn as part of Public Art München to campaign for the preservation of the criminal justice center in Munich, which is threatened with demolition © Christin Büttner.