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Paper short abstract:

Inspired by philosopher Jacques Derrida’s analysis of “ruptures”, “spacing”, and “traces” I examine how careful architectural interventions can establish trajectories linking the industrial past of an Copenhagen neighborhood to a post-industrial present.

Paper long abstract:

Based on Jernbanebyen in Copenhagen as an empirical example, of urban transformation, this paper explores architectural intervention as a radical rupture defining not only future cityscapes but also what gets to constitute their past.

In 2021, the Danish architect firm Cobe won a competition for the urban renewal of Jernbanebyen (the Railway City), a 365.000 m2 area in central Copenhagen consisting of large-scale workshops and maintaining facilities for diesel locomotives and train sets. The purpose of the competition was to design a master plan for transforming the area into a new sustainable and welcoming neighborhood.

My role on the Cobe team was to develop principles for preserving the legacy of a location that from 1900 to this day has been devoted to the maintenance of large machinery and to which public access was highly restricted.

When applied as a deliberate strategy, transformation implies a rupture by which the past is set in relation to a new spatial order. Such rupture, I argue, not only marks the beginning of a “new present” it also sets the past in a new light. Inspired by philosopher Jacques Derrida’s analysis of “ruptures”, “spacing”, and “traces” I examine how careful architectural interventions can establish trajectories linking the industrial past to a post-industrial present.

Through empirical examples from our competition material, I will present how this approach was incorporated as a design parameter in the winning proposal.