Traces of Use

Abstract

Traces of Use: Negotiating Memory, Amnesia and Reversibility explores how architecture can mediate between the preservation of memory and the necessity for change within underused industrial heritage. The thesis unfolds in two parts: a theoretical investigation and a design application. The first develops a critical framework around the notions of memory, amnesia, and reversibility, examining how adaptive reuse can operate as a negotiation rather than a resolution between past and present. Through selected case studies, including OMA’s Ruhr Museum, Flores & Prats’ Sala Beckett, and Herzog & de Meuron’s Park Avenue Armory, it analyses strategies that retain and reinterpret traces of prior use while accommodating contemporary needs.

The second part translates these reflections into an architectural proposal for the former Bekleidungswerk textile factory in Görlitz. The intervention reimagines the complex as an academic and research hub, adopting reversible, non-intrusive techniques that engage the existing structure as an active participant rather than a static artifact. By treating the building as a palimpsest of use, the project foregrounds the productive coexistence of continuity and transformation. Ultimately, the thesis argues that adaptive reuse, understood through the lens of reversibility, is not merely a preservation act but a dynamic process of negotiation, one that allows architecture to evolve while maintaining a dialogue with its own traces.