Congruence in reuse : significance of details in the transformation of former industrial buildings

Congruence in reuse. Significance of details in the transformation of former industrial buildings. Congruence in designs of transformation is the capacity of addressing changes over time. The final objective is to ensure the continuity of history. This approach requires receptivity and patient observation of the ‘existing’, which in this case is represented by industrial buildings, usually regarded as ordinary architectural volumes. In fact, their sober character, dictated by principles of mobility, efficiency and budget, seems to lead to this interpretation. When it comes to reusing industrial buildings, there is often a rash judgment of their architectural value, thus leaving behind their unique spatial character, their formal and typological characteristics and the pioneering level of experimentation involved in building them. These aspects find their significant expression in the ‘details’. The recognition of these details is the prerequisite for an approach on reuse capable of envisioning the endurance of a building beyond ephemeral trends. It establishes a relationship of continuity and, therefore, of congruence with the building. The design is thus open to experimentation and operates between the clear-cut alternatives of innovation against conservation.