Samenvatting

Reuse and transformation of industrial heritage is intricately linked to history, context, and architectural debate. In a critical process of theoretical research and research-by-design, a case is built up around the former water tower on one of the riverbanks in Wroclaw, Poland. The solid construction and unified architectural exterior make the building unyielding to any ‘easy’ reprogramming or transformation, and an amplitude of historical machinery in the interior forms another drawback for fast interventions. Other historical remains of the waterworks in the vicinity of the water tower have already found new, successful uses and nearby institutions, like the university, already infuse the area with new functions, which leaves the water tower in a stand -alone position, an icon in the skyline of the city devoid of any other function, susceptible to removal or harm. The design nonetheless foresees a future as archive and development center, including a public venue on top. The chosen strategy is to take the machinery out and expose it in a new transparent, slightly smaller, tower block down at the river, a copied structure of a demolished tower block from the sixties in the town center. This also functions as a development center, with a mooring platform for canalboats underneath. The two towers mirror each other in a dialogue about past and future values and architectural principles, from Vitruvius to ICOMOS.