Revitalizing Abandoned Building: Cultural Center

The project is a derived result as a solution or more-so call of hope from a left-out part of the capital city which came out of a war 20 years ago. The rehabilitation of an abandoned building that represents the whole under-developed neighbourhood which label themselves for two decades now as leftovers of the government.

Situated in a peripheral neighbourhood from the city centre – the octagon shaped left out building from the brutalism era of Yugoslavia, has always struck the eyes of by-passer as it stands tall clothed in all the layers of the history since its prime as the only point of cultural-social gathering, throughout the war, and now in abandonment.\nSet as a paradigm, the state of the building has shifted in the same manner as has the life-quality and situation of the people living in that part of the capital. During the 70s-80s it was one of the two only supermarkets in the city, following in the 90s being the only cultural event holding location in all of Pristina (knowing the war situation) – thus making the neighbourhood bloom out of social interaction and leaving a stamp of positive memories.\nIn the 2000s, keeping in mind that it was one of the few Yugoslavian regime resisting points from the Kosovar side in Pristina, its status concluded with negative aspects towards the people living close by making it a sight not to be welcomed. Now similar to the building that stands in ruins, because of urban development oriented only towards the city centre has made the locals label themselves abandoned as understood during the collective memory research.\nWith all the above said, the building became the target of the team’s mission of revitalization, urban regeneration and decentralization of urban cultural development.\nUnderstanding the history, the architectural intervention was concluded to be minimum to the building with only rehabilitating changes so it can be used for art/design creational areas. The interior being the buildings own brutalism atmosphere. By this the major changes in the proposal are made to the site surrounding the building – moreover the urban connective elements as are plateaus, amphitheater and passages giving the public space back to the people for daily use as all of its site size is being occupied as a car parking or trash bins. This way a once forgotten structure buried with great memories is brought back to the daily life of the locals from only a by-passer to the once even having an art exhibition there.