A Re-Place

“A Re-Place” in Ljubljana is a placemaking activity cycle, placemaking site and student workshop initiated by the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Architecture) and prostoRož, as a 2022 follow-up of the 2020 and 2021 activity cycles.

Inspired by the sustainable concept of circular design and materials reuse, by also looking beyond the common take-make-waste extractive model, this year our focus centres on flows of resources, keeping products in continuous use and repurposing their design.

We introduce a location-based continuity and set “A Re-Place” in the neighbourhood of our previous activities, this is Bežigrajski Dvor in Ljubljana. “A Re-Place” is situated in the east part of a temporary construction pit within the residential area. This location (sometimes also called Krater) represents the last untenanted part of this neighbourhood, temporarily used as a place of innovative ideas, sustainable practices and arts suggested by NGOs’, our own previous ideas and residential community initiatives.

Thus, in the last years, this location has also become an intersection of different interest groups, their activities and events. As a result, the place became a landfill and disposal of many of the materials from previous actions and activities, which have now lost their role and meaning. They wait for new times to begin and new life to revive.

Activities

The activities of “A Re-Place” will introduce a new perspective towards this location as a redesigned and recreated place for people. The workshop will comprise of an exploratory and enactment phase with students of the Faculty of Architecture and The Academy of Fine Arts and Design (both University of Ljubljana). Interested residents, visitors, NGO initiatives active at the site, and community representatives will be invited to articulate and express their ideas about the events, activities and the related redesign of this place. The workshop will be conducted by educational and artistic mentors, creating a learning podium for dialogue, assimilating professional and tacit knowledge, by also arranging the discussion with invited guest lectures experienced in architectural reuse, place redesign or addressing the “art of recycling the art”.

The process established within the framework of a workshop will encompass an insight into “A-RePlace” physical context, inventory of the existent collection of materials to be reused, as well as insight into the location dynamics and its social context and needs. The interested local public will be invited to first express their ideas about the redevelopment of the location and to further co-create it through the events and physical interventions on-site.

Types of Activities

The work will be carried out throughout the intertwinement of two elementary types of A-place placemaking activities:

1. Learning spaces for reflection (learn-place): weekly sessions organized in the framework of a workshop comprised of open guest lectures, debates with different user-groups and reflections on particular aspects of reuse, retrofitting and materials recycling in placemaking practices by also discussing the concepts of sustainable design and drop of consumption, and the new meanings which the different interventions/events aim to reveal at “A-RePlace”
2. On-site activities (spot-place): establishing and demonstrating the connection with the local community; activities and events will be conducted by prostoRož and implemented throughout the preparation of physical interventions by students, primarily addressing recycling and reuse of materials to also meet the needs of local residents.

Objectives

- To develop and apply creative placemaking practices in the course of a student creative workshop with a focus towards important contemporary concepts, such as circular design, reuse, and “the art of recycling the art”  which help to reveal the manifold meanings of place, by also involving residents and interested public groups to unfold their role, raise their commitment and co-create the places with them.

- To create cross-disciplinary learning spaces arising from the confluence of the creative design practices, paired with professional and academic ideas, public views, and tacit knowledge, addressing the role and meaning of reuse, recycling and redesigning of our places in contemporary societies

- To fulfil by the implementation of local "A-RePlace" actions the generic objectives: contributing to community building, enhancing the dialogue and commitment of inhabitants, tightening links between partners, exploiting the capacities of natural environments in the urban fabric and generating healthy and inclusive places to live in.