Industrial Heritage at the Crossroads

The topic of industrial heritage has fundamentally shifted in our consciousness, or rather in our lives. It is no longer a dreamy or theoretical topic; it is now a mundane, everyday topic. Its commonness is a great inspiration for creative people. The original function of the object has disappeared, but the structural basis remains, as does the original aesthetic value – thus, there is an attractive task of finding a new function. Moreover, because industrial heritage is not always understood as a monument of the highest category, it can be treated with considerable freedom. Where these objects and ensembles have been taken seriously from the outset, for whatever reasons, they have become genuinely attractive places, whether for leisure, education, housing, another form of production, or culture and art.

All examples can be found where the used area of industrial heritage has only been seen as a release space for current contemporary building; typically, this has taken away something from its character. We can easily compare – Holešovice and Karlín have legitimately made a hallmark of their industrial origin, while Smíchov has become banal. And it seems that it is not alone in this... Not least because contemporary building rarely manages to achieve a level of attractiveness, memorability, or human-engaging unique architecture, whose visualizations not only blend together but are entirely unidentifiable; it is indifferent whether it is labeled Prague, Brno, or Ostrava. Creating places with a characteristic “genius loci” is not something that contemporary building can achieve. Yet, almost everywhere where some functioning building once stood, there can be found an element that defines the place, enlivens it – characterizes it.

It seems to me that in today's situation, where buildings are becoming increasingly universal both in expression and function, the buildings from the industrial era hold significant importance. Not only because they have their unique poetics, usually from a time when aesthetic value was achieved almost automatically, but in today’s time, we are increasingly aware and appreciate that they come from an era that emphasized the perfection of construction detail, a beautiful detail that possesses signs of uniqueness, thoughtfulness, and sophistication, which are otherwise disappearing from our universally globalized world of mass-produced goods. Precisely because of this, they can become important points that affirm the identity of a place, what ties people to the place – where today there is a school, or apartments, or anything else functioning, it was a factory where my grandfather, my father worked; there is a piece of family history. These are places to which we have an immediate relationship – examples of this revived feeling of old, retired industrial buildings abound.

 
Trader instead of Worker
“Specialized industry has been replaced by a trader and his values!” – using the words of philosopher Karel Kosík in his conference contribution, sociologist Miloslav Lapka illustrated a fundamental factor in the process of saving our industrial heritage, namely the almost total focus of Czech society on the material aspects of life. Czech society – it seems – is not mentally equipped for the protection of retired industry. “These objects evoke certain nostalgic memories of past stability, but otherwise do not stir any positive connotations in people,” stated Lapka. He also pointed out that the post-industrial era is actually only slowly coming into being here: “The scandals surrounding Opencard or IZIP are not just evidence of corruption but also of technological and social lag.” The difficult path to a new socio-economic model understandably complicates the formation of an objective view of the recent past, which is still perceived rather as an antithesis to the current goals of society.

“Contemporary society does not perceive the socio-cultural values of architecture and does not demand them from its architects,” confirms architect Michal Šourek in other words. He also pointed out the treacherousness of “economism,” namely the conversion of everything and everyone into crowns: “A change in the tax system is enough, and everything will be different. However, such a change would be necessary on the other hand. Today, we seem to tax work and its yield almost as a punishment. If we genuinely want sustainable development, we should primarily tax the consumption of natural resources.” However, society does not perceive this aspect of construction very well, which is why it prefers to demolish rather than repair and reconstruct buildings that are just a few decades old. “Yet the costs of reconstruction can be lower than the price of new construction,” claims architect Šourek, citing the experiences of his own studio MS architekti.
 
http://www.stavebni-forum.cz/cs/article/21310/rekonstrukce-je-levnejsi-nez-novostavba/
 
However, beyond psychosocial and financial barriers, according to Šourek, various practical barriers hinder the rescue of industrial fallows: “We have hypertrophied codification of construction activity.” Architect Roman Kraiczy from Sekyra Group added with a sigh: “In Hamburg, a new building houses both a concert hall and apartments – something like that cannot be built here.”

Traditional Long-Distance Run
Regardless of various difficulties, it can be stated that the basic institutional prerequisites for the protection and revitalization of decaying unused industrial buildings are already in place – although the Czech Republic only began to perceive old factories or lime kilns as cultural monuments in the 1990s. Discussions on this topic began even during the times of real socialism in the 1970s, in connection with the demolition of the Těšnov railway station, which was unfortunately not averted in public opinion at that time. However, today the current executive regularly includes industrial buildings in the heritage fund, and thanks to the long-term work of VCPD (Research Centre for Industrial Heritage, operating under B. Fragner at the Czech Technical University), many regions have well-mapped, described, and cataloged unused remnants of industrial production. The state agency CzechInvest has also contributed a certain amount of work in this field. However, the long-prepared document “National Strategy for the Regeneration of Brownfields,” which was created with the involvement of CzechInvest, still does not have a definitive version, let alone the necessary stamps. This is reportedly the result of repeated vendettas within the agency's management, but it certainly also reflects the priorities of our political elite and, ultimately, society as a whole.

A positive shift in formal processes associated with conversions, moreover, is the gradual changes in the thinking of preservationists. At the Žižkov freight station, NPÚ Director Naďa Goryczková stated that “we would protect this building a bit differently than – let’s say – a baroque structure.” And at the Crossing of Architecture conference, Jiří Vajčner from the heritage department of the Ministry of Culture added: “Conservation of such objects is not necessary!” He added in the same breath that our state and its institutions still do not have specialists qualified for industrial buildings.

Invisible Hands
Despite the content of the contributions made at the conference, the tone of which was traditionally somewhat pessimistic, some aspects signaled that the attitude of Czech society towards industrial fallows is not so catastrophic. The very place of its holding – the humorously chosen La Fabrika theater, which is currently being expanded with additional spaces – already clearly declares its origin through its name. The same applies to the nearby Pleskot water meter factory, the office-residential complex A7 in the Holešovice brewery, the Classic 7 administrative buildings in the former mills, or the DOX gallery. We have quite a few successful conversions (not just in Prague). Even Holešovice itself, which is connected to the industrialization of Prague by an umbilical cord, now demonstrates through its suddenly vibrant life that breathing new life into old buildings is not so incredibly difficult even on a larger scale. Even without EU grants or public support. However, also with the awareness that it is not truly possible to save everything. Unless one resorts to completely legitimate rescue through a system-managed ruin. Simply ensuring that nothing falls on anyone's head and then just watching how remarkably quickly nature reclaims the territory that industrialization took from it.