In an effort to strengthen our collective European identity, this project proposes to convert a former correctional facility and its adjacent park into an archive of European cultural heritage. While the prison will function as a digital archive, the nearby park will be used to display cultural elements which can not be digitised. By actively preserving and celebrating what defines us as a democratic union, we can build a commonality between member states and ideally make the EU more cohesive.
Archive of European Culture is a conceptual idea that proposes to revitalise the old prison of Landshut by transforming it into a data centre and connect its functionality as a storage facility to the EU HORIZON program, which supports initiatives that aim to digitally preserve our European heritage. The project furthermore suggests that digitisation alone is not sufficient, as some cultural aspects — traditions, cuisines, sports and crafts — are intangible and can not be digitised. To preserve them, a central place is needed where they can be practiced, spectated and passed on to others.
The project site is in Bavaria, Southern Germany and was proposed by the city of Landshut for the Europan 16 competition, as it is in need of revitalisation. The city being located at the very heart of the European Union coincidentally also has an ideal infrastructure, with only 30 minutes to Munich airport, the nearby flood channel, which protects the city from severe flooding and the local University, which could provide the research and maintenance to keep the archive running. Arguing that a prison is the ideal typology for safekeeping, the abandoned correctional facility is perfect for such a functionality — once built to protect the environment from its prisoners, it could inversely also protect precious content from environmental threats.
The design strategy consists of two consecutive phases: First and foremost, the prison will become the digital archive: a protected digital storage facility preserving our collective heritage. The upper floors of the building will provide space for the server stations, while the ground floor will function as a public forum. The project then expands into the nearby park. Without diminishing the existing green space, various existing and added buildings will provide space to practice, showcase, teach and preserve the intangible parts of our culture.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
Circularity in architecture will play a key role in reaching our much needed climate goals. Cement production is the source of about 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions (Chatham House, 2018), so maximising the lifespan of any building is crucial. Adaptive reuse strategies offer a sustainable alternative, as they require far less construction material than newly built projects and ideally render the lifecycle of a building endless.
Since its closure in 2008, the former correctional facility of Landshut has struggled to find a new permanent function. The cell-structured interior and the small windows behind bars make the building unsuitable for most alternative types of use, like for example living or working. Reusing the building as a data centre fits the interior structure like a glove. Demolition and construction can be kept to a bare minimum, as data servers can be easily compartmentalised into the existing cells and have no additional daylight requirements.
Data-centres create a lot of heat when operating, usually requiring powerful cooling equipment. A new technology is being developed in the US that uses river water as a sustainable means to cool server rooms (https://nautilusdt.com). Since the project site in Landshut is located in close vicinity to the Isar river, this technology could be explored as a possibility to also make the building sustainable in its use.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
To a city, nothing is more aesthetically and existentially unpleasing than an unused building. It undermines the very purpose it was originally built for: to provide space to accommodate human activities. In the case of Landshut the abandoned prison is a particular thorn in the eye, as it also marks the entrance to the old city centre.
A permanent and public function, like the one this project proposes, would be a great aesthetic improvement to the urban fabric. It would make a formerly privatised and unused building accessible to the general public, which would guarantee its upkeep and would result in a continuous liveliness in and around the building. While the server rooms on the upper floors will be locked for safety reasons, the ground floor will function as an interface between visitor and archive and form a public gateway from the river park to the old city centre of Landshut.
Furthermore, the design for the park will also undergo an aesthetic improvement. Currently half of the park is occupied by a large parking lot. Arguing that the use of shared mobility and public transport will increase in the future as a means to progress towards more sustainable forms of transportation, the project proposes to transform the parking lot into additional green spaces.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
First and foremost, the project is intended as a place for all; it aims to offer a physical space for people from all EU member states to connect with one another by providing democratic access, both digitally and physically, to our shared European cultural heritage. Furthermore, public participation will be the key element that will make the preservation of our cultural heritage possible, as the intangible parts of our culture need to be actively practiced, performed and taught in order to preserve them.
The digitised data which will be stored on the data-servers of the former prison will be accessible through a public online portal, as well as locally via the forum. The latter will also function as a public educational facility. The park forms an extension of this educational facility in the sense that it will contain various spaces in which cultural heritage is actively preserved through public participation in the form of performances, workshops and courses.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
The proposed project integrates all dimensions into one holistic strategy. First and foremost it creates a public space inclusive to all European (and non-European) citizens which provides equal access to our common cultural heritage. It also improves the urban fabric of Landshut by providing an aesthetically pleasing entrance to the city centre by integrating an important public function and lastly it proposes an adaptive reuse strategy for a building of political importance.
Even though it is inevitable that our requirements for buildings change as society progresses, we need to critically assess when a structure is actually to be considered obsolete. Instead of proposing the construction of a new landmark, which would be the conventional approach for a building with political importance, using an adaptive reuse strategy could be considered a statement that, to the EU, environmental sustainability is more important than political ideology.
The concept is predominantly innovative in the functionality it proposes. The idea of a data-archive placed within a former prison forms a surprisingly symbiotic and new combination with many benefits. Not only can the existing interior be maintained without the need for rigorous adjustments, the building also guarantees the safety of its content through the typological characteristics of a prison.
Furthermore, the project aims to address the fact that the EU still lacks a sense of belonging; there is unfortunately no particular joy in being a European citizen. People still identify mostly with their individual countries of origin instead of the EU, as they can not grasp the geo-political benefit of it. This causes unfortunate developments like Brexit. We think it is time to establish a collective identity across all member states by actively preserving, protecting and celebrating what has defined and currently defines us as citizens of the European Union.
We are currently in touch with the local government of Landshut about the further development of this project. The former correctional facility is located at the entrance to the old city centre and has been empty for quite a while, so the local government is very eager to find a new purpose for it. Architecture’s sole purpose is to give space to human activities; a building is therefore meaningless without a function, regardless of it being considered a landmark by the city.
Initially, we will try to develop the project exactly as we intended it to be — a central archive of European culture. This would however require the full support of the EU, so we hope they will see potential in our proposal and what it intends to accomplish. As we do understand the complexity and magnitude of our idea, we will alternatively consider other stakeholders that would be interested to transform the building into a digital storage facility. We are convinced that a digital archive is the ideal adaptive reuse strategy for the former correctional facility of Landshut, regardless of the data it will eventually store. As the world around us transitions towards a digital future we accumulate data at an exponential rate, creating an ever-growing need for digital storage capacity. The typology of a prison could be particularly interesting as a storage facility, as it offers a safer alternative to conventional data-centres.
We are a young architecture office with aspirations and ideas as to how the building industry could change for the better and this prize would help us immensely to explore various new ideas in 2022/23.
For one we would like to explore the possibility of a self-initiated city. We think that housing is a basic need and that conventional organisational models for urbanism (top-down) are unable to successfully address the growing housing crisis. We think that a bottom-up urbanism, consisting of contribution based co-ownership could offer a healthy alternative, as it would ideally prevent speculation; any form of financial surplus would flow directly back into the development and upkeep of the building or settlement itself. The pandemic has showed us that for many people remote-working offers an alternative to the traditional office-bound job, making it less necessary for people to live in cities. An idea like this would therefore not be bound to the city, but could also be implemented in the countryside.
Another thing we are very interested in as a research topic is the possibility of the revival of ornament. Bauhaus, and the principles of modernism, freed architecture from ornamentation arguing that it was wrong to mass-produce a craft and that industrialisation required a new aesthetic language. In todays context, modern fabrication techniques like CNC milling, 3D-printing and artificial intelligence allow for non labour intensive mass-customisation with virtually endless possibilities. These kind of developments are considered by many as factors that might propel us into a fourth industrial revolution, asking yet again for the expression of a new aesthetic language.
@Bais, 2022
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