Many industrial buildings had remained the situation of vacancy since the late 1970s, reusing has become a term to be used as a sustainable method of preserving the cultural identity of these industrial buildings in order to prolong their life-span.
The Hembrug site is a plot which was formed in the 19th century by reclamation of land in the coastal area between Amsterdam and Zaandam. It was taken into use in 1895, as a weapon production base. However, the production came to a standstill in the 1990s, after which the factories were finally closed in 2003. The government decided to develop the mixed terrain for living, culture, nature and business in the coming years. However, industrial buildings on the site from industrial era are not adequate for the spatial and functional requirements in the contemporary society. Compare to demolition, renovation not only honors the past but also means looking into the future. It can help to create more space, reduce energy consumption and preserve the cultural value while bringing the building up to the latest technical standards.
My research focus on finding the suitable renovation strategies to the industrial heritage buildings, case study was used as the fundamental methodology while the descriptive research helped to summarized them into three main prototypes with the perspective of the spatial order between the existing building and its new intervention. The research findings are applied to the Hembrug Site and the design process also follows the strategies as well.