Lina Bareikyte

SYNCHRONIZED RE-USE, ROOM OF EXCHANGE AND RESOURCES

A place of objects, where shopping and craftsmanship cultures act together, creating a new type of space, that challenges the habits of consuming. ‘Synchronized re-use’ is a proposal for alternative way of shopping, where the experience of materiality and object re-use is a central point, placed in a heterogeneous and divers Nørrebro Haraldsgade neighbourhood in Copenhagen. The project investigates the changing consumption patterns and expanding community initiatives. In contemporary society commodity goods no longer serve to eliminate the deficit for which they were originally designed. The desire to consume is often portrayed as a natural human characteristic that cannot be changed. But the way people consume and what they consume is in constant transformation. Nevertheless incentives to consume are embedded in our everyday lives. Promoting spending and throwing away culture. Moreover with consumer obsolescence and a great change in shopping culture comes a need for constant upgrade and a wish to be satisfied and entertained.

The project combines the market of reclaimed materials and objects with the makers’ workshops. The process of buying is in a close connection with process of making and fixing, providing the ability to interact with materials and re-use the old. In this way the house is seen as a digestive system - collecting the used materials from the neighbourhood and ‘spitting out’ the new old. The building it self is re-used old industrial warehouse in Rovsingsgade, inhabiting the new functions and offering a raw materiality atmosphere. The significant interior space element becomes the existing concrete structure, working as a shelf for the new architectural components, that are layered between the slabs. The materials of the building taken down during the process of creating new spaces are re-used again in the project as much as possible. By making ‘oversized, misplaced’ cuts in the existing facades, the intervention aims to create a new contemporary identity of the building and frame the activities of the inside, at the same time leaving the original industrial character.

In the urban context the project acts as a new attraction point in the continues belt of public spaces [including Red square] going towards Nordhavn at the same time contributing to the revitalization of Rovsingsgade industrial area. The project is an incentive for material consciousness and re-use in human level, by providing alternatives.