Revitalising old factories and warehouses (Part 3 Final)

Paradise Lost in Time, Taipei, Taiwan

THE SHIHLIN PAPER MILL was an abandoned early 20th-century factory in Taipei, Taiwan. The crumbling walls and roofs let sunlight and rain into the building, allowing plants to thrive. Nature filled the building’s gaps, creating an accidental green oasis in the city.

When architecture firm Interbreeding Field took on the task of rejuvenating the mill, it decided to embrace the site’s natural moody ambience instead of tearing the old building down. The firm turned the mill into an exhibition space and placed wooden installations, stages, a coffee shop, light-up seats and wooden gazebos amid the ruins and plants.

Cros Cultural Centre, Galicia, Spain

CROS CULTURAL CENTRE in Galicia, Spain, was architecture firm Diaz & Diaz Arquitectos’ solution to providing the town of Culleredo with a new cultural centre that would be useful and symbolic to the town. The building should also support new components, such as a theatre and a library that will come later, without being too costly to maintain.

The old factory was first decontaminated and stripped down to its frames. It was then rebuilt in three phases. The first two buildings housed the entrance and lobby, while the third building housed the stage and dressing rooms, as well as rehearsal spaces and a multipurpose room. A small block offers exhibition space.

Related stories:
Revitalising old factories and warehouses (Part 1)
Revitalising old factories and warehouses (Part 2)

This article first appeared in the “Sustainable living” focus of property, a section of the digitaledge WEEKLY, on Aug 31, 2015. Subscribe here.