Master's Thesis

Adaptive Reuse in the Conservation of Industrial Heritage: A Case Study in Architectural Redesign

Final Thesis 21.64 MB Appendix 74.15 MB

Author of thesis: Bengisu Sagmaner

Acad. year: 2025/2026

Supervisor: mgr inź. arch Szymon Rozwalka

Reviewer: Ing. arch. Petr Jakšík

Abstract:

The diploma thesis “Adaptive Reuse in the Conservation of Industrial Heritage: A Case Study in Architectural Redesign” experiments with the conservation of a post-industrial building in Brno, Trnitá, in the vicinity of Cejl and old industrial zone of the city where the textile industry started during 1750s, and has long been a home to different communities: Jews and Germans before the Second World War, and now to Roma population, now facing a radical shift with renewal projects. Thus, it is in the verge of losing its layered historical, cultural and social identity.


The subjected building is the former Brno City Timber Factory located on the Křenová Street, and that is going to be demolished due to the future development projects. The project rather than seeing the building as a static monument or rather than aproaching with object-based preservation method, it aims to see the building as a catalyst to bring the social diversity and nature, and works with the future development of the area.

The methodology of the project is formed by the research on the works and readings from Rem Koolhaas, Arno Brandlhuber, architecten De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Yona Friedman, and Richard Sennett.

Keywords:

conservation, industrial heritage, affordable housing, social structure

Date of defence

28.01.2026

Result of the defence

Defended (thesis was successfully defended)

znamkaCznamka

Grading

C

Process of defence

The student presented her project. The supervisor´s and the oponent´s reviews were read. The student responded to and commented on the suggestions made in the reviews. During the discussion, the student answered the following questions: 1. What is the rationale behind locating “low-income” housing in the original buildings while placing other social groups in taller, newly designed structures? 2. What is your understanding of the standard of socially affordable housing? 3. Did you calculate the capacity of the parking facilities? 4. Did you consider the level of underground water? 5. Are there any green areas in project?

Language of thesis

English

Faculty

Department

Study programme

Architecture and Urban Design (NE_A+U)

Specialization

no specialisation (--- (2023))

Composition of Committee

doc. Ing. arch. Maxmilian Wittmann, Ph.D. (předseda)
Ing. arch. Josef Kala (člen)
Ing. Petr Selník, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. arch. Soňa Velková, Ph.D. (člen)
doc. Ing. arch. Nina Bartošová, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. Lukáš Petr (člen)

Supervisor’s report
mgr inź. arch Szymon Rozwalka

The student's project is an ambitious complex work combining architectural theory, in particular the theory of preservation of existing urban structures, environmental and social aspects of this preservation with issues of social separation, including affordable housing, and questions about the relationship between humans and nature.
Unfortunately, the above multi-layered aspects, although present in the work, have not been fully stated. It can be said that they are present in the work but do not characterize it. They are not the main narrative of the work, which has become unclear. 
As the tutor, I identify two reasons for this final outcome.
On the one hand, the student understands the individual lines of thought and deals with them, but in the next step she tends to forget about them. The student's problem is her weaker ability to synthesize.
The second major factor was lack of time. The student ambitiously wanted to capture many parallel threads in her work, which complicated her work, resulting in her running out of time to finalize the project, both in terms of ideas and design. I believe that if she had had a month or two more time, she would have been able to present a much more convincing result.
The above does not change the fact that the student worked solidly and with commitment. The questions she dealt with were not only interesting from an academic point of view, but also strictly professional, and her way of thinking fills me with optimism.
It is a pity that the work does not show some aspects of the project that I consider valuable:
1) The integration of nature into the center of the quarter creates a new public space, which is something between a park and a jungle, where there is space not only for various social groups but also for species other than humans.
2) The form of the new buildings responds to the historical context, but at the same time transforms the classic block development into a hybrid urban form. Respect is combined with innovation here. It is a pity that the project does not show the character of the inner block. It is certainly a big mistake not to include cross-sections in the booklet, where this would have been more clearly visible.
3) The relationship between the new structures and the existing ones is not sufficiently clear. For example, the gesture of “cutting off” the existing building and then placing new structures on top of it is a strong and bold gesture, but it is not presented strongly enough.
4) The analyses of the obtained areas in comparison to the reference development project were interesting, and the lighting analyses in the form of scripting in the first phase of the project were convincing.
5) The functonal distribution of apartments may seem almost dystopian (the rich in the clouds, the poorer below) but as I understand it, this is based on very rational criteria (the cheapest apartments can even be converted into self-made forms, while the upper parts of the new buildings will require a large construction company) and in real use they do not have to be dysfunctional at all. It is a pity that the student was unable to show an example of residential development in existing buildings, but I understand that limiting the scope of the project was necessary.

A project with high potential. The longer I analyze its individual aspects, the more I like it. Points proposed by supervisor: 69

Grade proposed by supervisor: D

Reviewer’s report
Ing. arch. Petr Jakšík

Celkově velmi pozitivně hodnotím zájem studentky o řešení celospolečenských témat sociální nerovnosti a necitlivého, oportunistického nakládání s historickou stopou. Své úvahy podložila studiem vhodně zvolených teoretických a textových materiálů, z nichž dokázala formulovat základní cílová témata práce. Neméně oceňuji odvahu konfrontovat toto komplexní a náročné téma s reálným současným prostředím.

Šíře a komplexnost zvoleného problému je však natolik rozsáhlá, že bylo pro studentku obtížné jednotlivá témata v návrhu důsledně reflektovat a srozumitelně je propsat do architektonického řešení diplomové práce. Ze zvolených témat je nejčitelnější snaha o zachování původní dřevozpracující budovy, jejíž potenciál je však využit jen ve formě vertikálního propojení, navíc konfliktního s možností jejího pronájmu pro retail. Klíčová otázka promíchávání rozdílných skupin s odlišným finančním a sociálním zázemím je v návrhu spíše popřena jejich rozdělením do samostatných objektů, podpořeným ekonomicky problematickým vysvětlením. Nově navržená budova pak svým charakterem působí spíše jako projekt běžného bytového domu bez výraznější vazby na deklarovaná sociální témata.

Navzdory analýze širších vztahů a reflektování významu Brněnské třídy v práci postrádám podrobnější urbanistickou analýzu menšího měřítka, která by přesvědčivě odůvodnila příčné propojení území skrze pozemek i potřebu přítomnosti veřejného parku v bezprostředním sousedství již plánovaného parku. Pozitivně hodnotím analýzu osvětlení nově zpřístupněných veřejných prostor a z ní vycházející hmotové řešení budov. Podobnou míru pozornosti bych však očekával také ve vztahu k prosvětlení bytů ve stávajících i nově navržených objektech.

Práce s prosvětlením dvora umožnila studentce navrhnout tvarově zajímavý objekt s fasádou navazující na atraktivně „trimované“ řešení historické budovy. V detailu se však fasáda bytového domu jeví spíše jako formální a není plně využit potenciál, který by dvojitá fasáda mohla nabídnout. Další nedostatky v detailu vnímám s ohledem na časové možnosti studentky a běžnou úroveň zkušeností studentů jako marginální, nicméně zjevné. Vzhledem k členitosti objektu a rozdílným kvalitám obytných prostor v závislosti na výškovém uspořádání budovy bych očekával pestřejší skladbu bytů (flat mix), která by se promítla i do rytmizace fasády.

Řešení dispozic bytů i vjezdu do parkování působí neekonomicky a v některých ohledech popírá základní téma návrhu. V práci mi chybí celkové zamyšlení nad standardem typologie sociálně dostupného bydlení i hlubší reflexe reálné poptávky trhu. Z konstrukčního hlediska studentka dokázala vhodně propojit konstrukční systém budovy s řešením parkování a požárně bezpečnostní řešení se jeví jako rámcově správné. Chybějící řešení instalačních šachet považuji za detail spíše okrajového charakteru.

Grafické zpracování návrhu působí velmi utilitárně, pravděpodobně úměrně zkrácenému času, který měla studentka na zpracování diplomové práce k dispozici.

Věřím, že diplomová práce studentce poslouží jako dobrý základ pro její další profesní rozvoj a že v budoucnu dokáže své znalosti dále prohloubit a vhodně zúročit. Přes uvedené výhrady považuji práci za relevantní a přínosnou.

Diplomovou práci doporučuji k obhajobě.

 

English: 

Overall, I evaluate very positively the student’s interest in addressing broader societal issues such as social inequality and the insensitive, opportunistic handling of historical layers. Her reflections are supported by the study of appropriately selected theoretical and textual sources, from which she was able to formulate the main objectives of the project. I also highly appreciate her courage in confronting this complex and demanding topic within a real contemporary context.

However, the breadth and complexity of the chosen problem are so extensive that it proved difficult for the student to consistently reflect the individual themes within the design and to clearly translate them into the architectural solution of the diploma project. Among the declared themes, the most legible is the effort to preserve the original woodworking building, whose potential is nevertheless exploited only through vertical connectivity, which is further conflicted by the intention to lease the building for retail use. The key issue of mixing different social groups with diverse financial and social backgrounds is rather negated by their separation into distinct buildings, supported by an economically questionable justification. The newly designed building subsequently appears more as a conventional residential housing project, lacking a stronger connection to the declared social themes.

Despite the analysis of broader urban relationships and the reflection on the significance of Brněnská Street, the project lacks a more detailed urban analysis on a smaller scale that would convincingly justify the transversal connection across the site and the necessity of introducing a public park in the immediate proximity of an already planned park. I positively assess the analysis of daylight conditions in newly accessible public spaces and the resulting massing strategy of the buildings. A similar level of attention, however, would be expected with regard to the daylighting of residential units in both the existing and newly proposed buildings.

Through her work with courtyard daylighting, the student succeeded in designing a formally interesting building whose façade conceptually follows the attractively “trimmed” façade of the historical structure. At a more detailed level, however, the façade of the residential building appears rather formal, and the potential offered by a double-skin façade is not fully exploited. Other shortcomings in detailing can be regarded as marginal—yet evident—given the student’s limited time and the typical level of experience at this stage of study. Considering the complexity of the building and the varying qualities of residential spaces in relation to the vertical stratification of the structure, I would have expected a richer flat mix, which could also have been reflected in a more articulated façade rhythm.

The layout solutions of both the apartments and the parking access appear uneconomical and, in certain aspects, contradict the fundamental theme of the project. The work lacks a comprehensive reflection on the standards of socially affordable housing typologies as well as a deeper consideration of real market demand. From a structural perspective, the student successfully integrated the building’s structural system with the parking solution, and the fire safety concept appears to be broadly resolved in an appropriate manner. The absence of a detailed solution for service shafts is considered a minor issue of secondary importance.

The graphic presentation of the project is very utilitarian, most likely reflecting the limited time available to the student for the preparation of the diploma thesis.

I believe that this diploma project will serve the student as a solid foundation for her further professional development and that she will be able to deepen and productively apply her knowledge in future work. Despite the above-mentioned reservations, I consider the project to be relevant and valuable.

I recommend the diploma project for defense. Topics for thesis defence:
  1. • Jaký je důvod rozdělení „low income“ bydlení do původních budov a ostatních sociálních skupin do výškově odlišných objektů? • Jaká je Vaše představa o standardu sociálně dostupného bydlení? • Jakým způsobem se mají v návrhu jednotlivé sociální skupiny „promíchávat“ a setkávat, v duchu hledání míst konfliktu, jak o nich píše R. Sennett? Je k tomu dostačující role pronajímatelného retailu? • Jaký byl důvod nevyužití rampy pro vjezd do parkování? - What is the rationale behind locating “low-income” housing in the original buildings while placing other social groups in taller, newly designed structures? - What is your understanding of the standard of socially affordable housing? - In what way are different social groups intended to mix and encounter one another within the proposal, in line with Richard Sennett’s concept of spaces of conflict? Is the role of leasable retail sufficient in this regard? - What was the reason for not utilizing a ramp for access to the parking facilities?
Points proposed by reviewer: 70

Grade proposed by reviewer: C

Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová