Architecture potentielle de la Grande Structure Abandonnée (G.S.A) : catégorisation et projection

This research, inscribed in the theory of architectural design, focuses on a contemporary phenomenon situated on the border between architecture and urbanism: the Abandoned Large Structure (ALS). This notion brings the attention to large and heterogeneous built environments that have been abandoned for more than a decade. The thesis questions the possibilities for a categorization of Abandoned Large Structures, both as a disciplinary problem (categorization as a framework of knowledge) and as a practical issue (categorization as a framework for intervention). This is explored in two phases. First, the phenomenon of Abandoned Large Structures is defined via inventory, description, and classification. Second, faced with the limits presented by conventional classification frameworks in architecture, the thesis shifts the analysis from a classification of what the ALS is (properties) to what the ALS does or can do (potential capacities). Based on a corpus of 103 structures, this research first describes the ALS using properties inherited from the original project of the ALS (the primary meaning), properties brought by the abandonment (loss of meaning), and properties attached to contemporary projections surrounding the ALS (renewal of meaning). These descriptions feed into the joint analysis of the resistance and resources of the ALS (physical, pragmatic and epistemological). The notion of ‘Resistances-Resources’ is then no longer apprehended in a binary opposition, but as a « twin phenomenon » (Van Eyck, 1960). Taking into account this dialectic allows us to anticipate the future of 72 of the 103 ALS studied. Five conventional reclassification territories are thus identified: demolition, rehabilitation, heritage conservation, tourism, and ruin. However, they do not cover the whole spectrum of ALS. 31 ALS are left in a zone of classificatory indeterminacy, resistant to convergent modes of anticipation. What, among these structures, escape the conventional modes of knowledge and intervention in architecture? To answer that question, the hypothesis of the ALS as a liminal phenomenon (Van Gennep, 1909) is then explored, focusing on the characters that feed the in-between condition of these structures: incompleteness, constructive ambiguity, mythical dimension, conflicting scenarios, and informal dynamics. This shows not only the limits presented by the functional, formal, and stylistic filters conventionally used in architecture, but furthermore opens the research to more flexible interpretative modes of arrangement. Finally, the thesis moves from the properties to the potential of the ALS. The many scenarios revolving around the ALS here serve as analytical material to access these potentials. An in-situ case study conducted in one of the ALS (El Elefante Blanco, Buenos Aires) serves as a guide for a survey of the ALS’ categories of potential. Five categories are extracted: 1. Material deposit, 2. Increased epidermis, 3. Megastructure 2.0, 4. Rhizome and 5. Anti-monument, to which respond specific design strategies. These categories place the ALS at the intersection of constructive, ecological, social and political challenges.

Keyphrases: Structure, Abandon, Architectural design, Abandonment, Categorization, Potential