Traces of Transition
A story by time and other agents
C.G. Nistor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
R.M. van der Schans – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
A.B.J. van Deudekom – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
Leeke Reinders – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
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Abstract
“Traces of transition” explores the architectural and social potential of an overlooked and banal industrial structure in Hoboken, Antwerp, once a rim-painting factory, now a decaying shell. Confronted with its imminent demolition, the research repositions the building not as obsolete, but as an organism, an active agent with a ongoing story. Through explorations into transformation, temporality, and user agency, the project challenges and critiques the dominant narrative of demolition and sterile replacement that characterises much of today’s urban development.
Drawing from the traces left behind, the story of the former rim painting factory was pieced together into a short 4 act film. The building is reimagined into a cultural and residential centre for the local youth, a demographic greatly marginalised in Hoboken. Inspired by the concept of “Low Road Buildings” as defined by Stewart Brand, as we all the local Blikfabriek cultural centre, the project celebrates adaptability, imperfection, and freedom of use. The building is viewed as evolving and unfinished, rather than a static monument waiting for its death.
Through narrative, scenography, videography, photography, mapping and physical modelling, the thesis constructs a living archive of the building’s past, present, and speculative futures, ultimately advocating for an architecture that learns, adapts, and resists erasure.