T
he desertion caused by the bankruptcy of NDSM spurred the prevalence of shoddy activities of prostitution and drug trades, with the latter epitomised by an article of Het Parool mentioning the use of warehouses in the wharf as drugdealing headquarters3. Artists, filmmakers and creative young people seeking affordable spaces followed, sparking the subcultures of the lesser-known Amsterdam North4. The shipbuilding hall at that time was owned by Vervaco shipyard and sub-rented to small companies in 1993, and Aarding started a heavymetal construction company5. Occurrences inside these buildings of the era contributed to the notoriety of the area, worsened by their use as dens for junkies, prostitutes, and property criminals; such generalised statements about these deeds were found in the studied resources. In London, by the 1970s, the distribution buildings and warehouses of King’s Cross fell into dilapidation as its role as an industrial transport hub regressed; by the 1980s, the district was the lowestrent area for central London offices, hence densely populated with lowerincome groups, council tenants, and
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local enterprises6. Nightclubs moved in and these buildings became the pulsating heart of party scene in Central London. Inevitably, the associated acts of drug-dealing, prostitution and street crimes soared especially around King’s Cross Station7 before its privatisation. Great bits of industrial storages like keeping tarmac, freight, goods did occur especially as constructions happened nearby. For both periods, this investigation is on what is the situation of the sites and if adaptive reuse (AR) happened. In simple terms, AR indicates the act of using existing buildings in purposes other than for which they are originally built. The definition, when applied to the events aforementioned, presumably suggests that all types of possession including those unsavoury acts exemplify the notion of ‘reusing’ old buildings. The first group will be the illegal or the indecent, such as the drugdealers or the prostitutes. The post-industrial leftovers set up a highly conducive environment for the undesirable group of people as they are highly private and off the public realm. The colonisation of
these pre-existing ‘habitats’ by these ‘pioneer species’, akin to process of secondary ecological succession in nature happens when buildings are left unmanned and unmanaged. This then raises the question of the social responsibilities on the effects of reuse of buildings, or perhaps, taking a step back, the question of if these kinds of uses could even be regarded as ‘adaptive reuse’. As these people occupy a deserted building for these unpleasant purposes, the relationship of the building and the ‘users’ dwindles to the point where the disused building only ‘acts’ as a shelter due to its physical and social characteristics. Physically, the use of the building did not add value to the user and viceversa, and poetically the building was stripped to its bare functions of walls and roofs only, where the sum of both parts is less than the whole idea of the word ‘building’. Socially, the vicious cycle of general public avoiding the area and hence, or because of, the borderline crimes, happen, enhancing the appeal for these people to take over the buildings, and use them for trades and protection.
sense does. Nonetheless, ‘adaptation’, defined by James Douglas as ‘any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance’8 implies a responsibility and interest to maintain or even make improvements to the building. It is routinely inferred, and often true, that the likes of these occupiers have no initiative or need to do those. Instead their unhygienic practice often blemished the site, its damage second only to pillaging. The use by drug-dealers and prostitutes informally would not be regarded as AR of the site because of their detrimental imprints on the occupied buildings. This in turn questions if AR concerns legality. The next group who follows, the squatters, is introduced to aid in the inquiry. Squatting is defined in the broadest sense as the occupation and transformation of land and buildings that are unused or underused9. Only few generalised statements are written on the squatting conditions in NDSM and King’s Cross, in lieu of that, a city movement will be discussed.
Perhaps the latter term, ‘reuse’ in a
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