A centralised (digital) archive of both tangible and intangible European cultural heritage.
The war in Ukraine has shown the importance of cultural heritage preservation and the need for a more cohesive EU. In an effort to strengthen our collective European identity, this project proposes to convert an abandoned correctional facility and its adjacent park into an archive of European cultural heritage. While the former prison will protect our digitised cultural heritage, the nearby park will provide space to perform and celebrate intangible cultural events.
Cross-border/international
Germany
Other
Anywhere within the EU
{Empty}
Landshut, Bavaria
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
Yes
Europan 16 – First prize
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Jorik Last name: Bais Gender: Male Age: 30 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Neißestraße 3 Town: Berlin Postal code: 12051 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 176 75098522 E-mail:jorik@aud-a.com Website:https://jorikbais.com
First name: Alexandra Last name: Heijink Gender: Female Age: 30 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Neißestraße 3 Town: Berlin Postal code: 12051 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 176 75098522 E-mail:jorik@aud-a.com
Archive of European Culture is a conceptual idea that proposes to revitalise the former prison of Landshut by transforming it into a data centre and connect its functionality as a storage facility to EU initiatives with the aim to digitally preserve our European heritage. The project furthermore suggests that digitisation alone is not sufficient, as some cultural aspects, like traditions, cuisines, sports and crafts, are intangible and can not be digitised. To preserve them, a central place is needed where they can be practiced, spectated and passed on to others.
The project site was proposed by the city of Landshut in Germany for the Europan 16 competition and is perfect for this functionality. The city being located at the geographical heart of the European Union coincidentally also has an ideal infrastructure, with only 30 minutes to Munich airport, the nearby flood channel, which protects the city from severe flooding and the local university, which could provide the research and maintenance to keep the archive running. Arguing that a prison is the ideal typology for safekeeping, the abandoned correctional facility in Landshut is perfect for such a functionality — once built to protect the environment from its prisoners, it could inversely also protect precious content from environmental threats.
The project consists of two consecutive phases. First and foremost the prison will become a digital archive: a protected storage facility preserving our digitised collective heritage. The upper floors of the building will provide space for the server stations, while the ground floor will function as a public forum to be used for educational purposes and to foster public engagement with the stored data. The project then expands into the nearby park. Without diminishing the existing green space, various existing and added buildings will provide space to practice, showcase, teach and preserve the intangible – performative – parts of our culture.
Adaptive Reuse
Cultural Heritage
Archive
Collective Identity
Digitisation
The project aims to provide an alternative way of thinking by showcasing that, even on a geo-political level, vital contemporary public functions can be housed in existing neglected buildings, instead of only in newly built landmarks.
Circularity in architecture will play a key role in reaching our much needed climate goals, so maximising the lifespan of any building is crucial. Adaptive reuse strategies offer a sustainable alternative, as they require far less construction material than newly built projects and ideally render the lifecycle of a building endless.
Since its closure in 2008, the former correctional facility of Landshut has struggled to find a new permanent function. The cell-structured interior and the small windows behind bars make the building unsuitable for many alternative types of use. Reusing the building as a data centre fits the existing interior structure like a glove. Demolition and reconstruction can be kept to a bare minimum, as data servers can be easily compartmentalised into the existing cells and have no additional daylight requirements. It provides this existing building with an important new function, without requiring much effort or resources.
To a city, nothing is more aesthetically and existentially unpleasing than an unused building. It undermines the very purpose it was originally built for: to provide space to accommodate human activities. In the case of Landshut the abandoned prison is a particular thorn in the eye, as it also marks the entrance to the old city centre.
A permanent and public function, like the one this project proposes, would be a great aesthetic improvement to the urban fabric. It would make a formerly privatised and unused building accessible to the general public, which would guarantee its upkeep and would result in a continuous liveliness in and around the building. While the server rooms on the upper floors will be locked for safety reasons, the ground floor will function as an interface between visitor and archive and form a public gateway from the river park to the old city centre of Landshut.
Furthermore, the design for the park will also undergo an aesthetic improvement. Currently half of the park is occupied by a large parking lot. Arguing that the use of shared mobility and public transport will increase in the future as a means to progress towards more sustainable forms of transportation, the project proposes to transform the parking lot into additional green spaces.
First and foremost, the project is intended as a public place for all; it aims to offer a physical space for people from all EU member states to connect with one another by providing democratic access, both digitally and physically, to our shared European cultural heritage. Furthermore, public participation will be the key element that will make the preservation of our cultural heritage possible, as the intangible parts of our culture need to be actively practiced, performed and taught in order to preserve them.
Furthermore, the project aims to address the fact that the EU itself lacks a sense of belonging; European citizens are currently not consciously experiencing the collective geo-political benefit of being a part of it. People rather identify themselves solely with their individual countries of origin, which causes unfortunate developments like Brexit. We think it is time to start establishing a collective identity across all member states by actively preserving, protecting and celebrating what has defined and collectively defines us as citizens of the European Union.
It provides the relatively small town of Landshut with an important new geo-political function by transforming an abandoned prison into a centralised European data archive. Rather than taking up valuable land in the process of its implementation, the project is placed inside an existing abandoned prison, which has been standing empty at the entrance of the city for over a decade.
It also improves the urban fabric of Landshut by providing an aesthetically pleasing entrance to the city centre by integrating an important public function and lastly it proposes an unprecedented adaptive reuse strategy for a building of political importance.
Since winning Europan 16 with our proposal in 2021, we have continuously been in touch with the local government of Landshut about the further development of this project. The former correctional facility is located at the entrance to the old city centre and has been empty for quite a while, so the local municipality is very eager to find a new purpose for it. Architecture’s sole purpose is to give space to human activities; a building is therefore meaningless without a function, regardless of it being considered a landmark by the city.
During a workshop organised by Europan, which the city of Landshut and the government of Bavaria attended, it was concluded that the building indeed contains the hidden potential which our original proposal aimed to unravel and showcase, but that the function as we intended it would need full support of the EU. Therefore the exact future function of the building still uncertain, but our proposal did create a general excitement about the idea of an adaptive reuse strategy to bring new life to the building.
The concept spans across the fields of architecture, urbanism, branding & academic research. It builds upon the Bauhaus principle of the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ in which there is a synthesis between all forms of art and production and which dictates the smart use of resources.
The concept is predominantly innovative in the functionality it proposes. The idea of a data-archive placed within a former prison forms a surprisingly symbiotic and new combination with many benefits. Not only can the existing interior be maintained without the need for rigorous adjustments — which is coincidentally also required by monument protection — the building also guarantees the safety of its content through the typological characteristics of a prison.
The digitised data which will be stored on the data-servers of the former prison will be accessible through a public online portal, as well as locally via the forum. The latter will also function as a public educational facility. The park forms an extension of this educational facility in the sense that it will contain various spaces in which cultural heritage is actively preserved through public participation in the form of performances, workshops and courses.
The project lends itself to be replicated across each member state of the EU. A digital archive to safeguard national cultural heritage with an additional function as interface to offer access to a collective digital archive of European cultural heritage could be placed in any abandoned building across the EU.
First and foremost the project is a critique of demolition practices within the architecture industry and the overall tendency to prefer the construction of new buildings over adaptive reuse.
Even though it is inevitable that our requirements for buildings change as society progresses, we need to critically assess when a structure is actually to be considered obsolete. Instead of proposing the construction of a new landmark, which would be the conventional approach for a building with political importance, using an adaptive reuse strategy could be considered a statement that, to the EU, environmental sustainability is more important than political ideology.
