The common ground workshop, caring for industrial heritage    The common ground workshop, caring for industrial heritage

Sammanfattning: Historical hydroelectric stations are part of an aging industrial heritage that is still extremely relevant today through its form of generating energy. Many stations built in the 20th c. are categorized as architectural heritage, therefore protected against demolition or radical change, thus also a radical expansion that would allow to modernize the station and allow for bigger energy output. Viskafors power station in Borås (Sweden) built in 1917 for the former local textile factory,  is a small-scale power station that is marked as architectural heritage, currently owned by Vattenfall.  The town of Viskafors is one of many factory towns along the river and as the industry went bankrupt in the 1970-ties it has become a suburb to the city of Borås. The only public buildings in Viskafors are schools. The town once defined by the industry is now left with an inaccessible waterfront and plenty of unused and unattainable space.The former factory grounds and the restricted area around the hydroelectric station, railway and regional road block the waterfront.The latest station renovation happened in 2013, leaving the second floor and the lift tower empty. Forming another void in the total space that Viskafors has to offer.Can this void be used as leverage to explore the potential of formerly unattainable space within the station and in connection to the waterfront? Keeping this in mind, this thesis aims to find meaningful ways to inhabit and repurpose formerly unattainable space as it is today; to find methods of organizing complex landscapes; initiate a discussion of new thinking of potential hybrid scenarios for the complexities of our future settlements.Can the future be a link to the past and vice versa?The project space stretches from the street level approaching the building to the rooftop, extends into the empty space of the station's second floor, and continues over the other side of the river. The existing second-floor space dimensions are  33 m x 11m x 5.5 m forming a box space. In theory, a box space this size holds infinite potential as long as it remains empty and has no walls, this project aims to explore the method of placing programmed pavilions/interventions as a space-organizing method of work and extending the approach to the rest of the project site area.The aim is to keep the hydroelectric station running while inhabiting the empty space surrounding it, and learning how to live with it.