Obsolescence - affordable adaptive reuse

This thesis departures from the urgency to reinterpret the role of the architect. Our job’s main mission can no longer be to supply ideas for cradle to grave type of production. The only way to harmonize our needs with the planetary limits is through a paradigm shift towards reshaping existing materials, infrastructure, and constructions. How could architects better inform and convey their expertise regarding construction, material qualities, and cultural values, in a constructive, forward-looking way? By working hands-on with preexisting contexts and buildings we want to learn the craft of adaptive reuse. This thesis has resulted in a case study of a former hardware store, called Järnbolaget, in the small urban outpost Torsby in the north of Värmland

Soviet Planning Archives: the Files that Bergson could not see1

This paper examines Soviet industrial materials supply planning using official documents from the Soviet state and party archives. It examines the planning practices of the 1930s and uses two criteria suggested by Bergson to examine its efficiency. The actual practices of annual and quarterly planning are viewed in terms of the relationship between the dictator, the industrial ministries and their branch administrations, and producing enterprises. Our results confirm the general picture of operational planning from the Western literature but add a number of new insights into the operation and efficiency of industrial materials supply planning. Comparative Economic Studies (2005) 47, 364–386. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100097