Title

Author(s)

Marcus van der Meulen

Affiliation

RWTH University Aachen

DOI

https://doi.org/10.65686/MEXF4701

Keywords

Adaptive Reuse, Hybridity, Negotiation

PP

974-981

How to Cite

van der Meulen, Marcus. “Negotiation and Hybridity: Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Heritage in Warsaw.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Adaptive Reuse. Volume 1, edited by Andrea Crudeli, Francesca Molle, and Emanuele Carrai, 974–981. Firenze: STH Press, 2026.

Abstract

Warsaw’s rapid industrial expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries left a legacy of factories, power plants, and industrial complexes scattered across the city. In recent decades, many of these abandoned sites have been transformed through adaptive reuse, evolving from monofunctional industrial spaces into hybrid environments that blend retail, leisure, housing, and cultural activities. This process embodies a duality and a hybridity of form and function, as the material and symbolic traces of the past are renegotiated within the urban present.

This paper examines how adaptive reuse projects in Warsaw, such as Koneser in Praga and the Powiśle Power Plant, navigate the tension between conservation and transformation. By integrating industrial relics with modern design, these sites become hybrid spaces, fostering a dialogue between memory and progress. The result is a reimagined urban fabric, where the city’s industrial heritage is not erased but repurposed, contributing to Warsaw’s identity as a modern metropolis rooted in its historical layers.

Edited by
Andrea Crudeli
Francesca Molle
Emanuele Carrai

Publisher
STH Press, Firenze

ISBN Paperback – 9791281661141
ISBN Ebook – 9791281661158
DOI – https://doi.org/10.65686/SISY7263

Year
2026

Proceedings of
International Conference on Adaptive Reuse
hosted by The University of Pisa, Italy
15-19 September 2025, at the Gispoteca di Arte Antica dell’Università di Pisa.