U r b a n r o o m s o f S a r a j e v o : Tr a n s f o r m i n g u r b a n p u b l i c s p a c e s u s i n g i n t e r i o r d e s i g n t o o l s
Intervention target: urban voids
“Where there is nothing, everything is possible. Where there is architecture, nothing (else) is possible” (Koolhaas, et al., 1995). There is nothing more difficult to define than an empty space. Even though it has been a part of the economic, philosophical, social and urban discourse for some time, the urban void or urban empty space evades solid definition. As Paolo Desideri states, “the void is not a very definite term” (Desideri, 1997). The notion of a spatial void is parallel to the ancient Japanese concept Ma, denoting a gap, a pause, a negative space, or an interval between two objects. Ma can also be described as “an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled”, and as “the silence between the notes which make the music”46 (Kisaki, 2011). The interpretation of spatial voids in the Ma sense therefore evokes multiple opportunities and promises. The essence of this urban phenomenon, however, is not easily captured by a comprehensive term. Recurrent subjects in urban transformation projects and theoretical discourse, urban voids are described by several synonyms or corresponding terms such as: Derelict Land, Brownfield, Freiräume, Leere, Terrain Vague, Terrenos Baldios, Urban Wastelands, Vacant Land and Vazios Urbanos. The French term Terrain Vague, coined by de Sola Morales in the 1990s, evokes a wider meaning by uniting the physical manifestation of a phenomenon with its potential use (de Sola Morales, 2003). As de Sola Morales explains, the word vague, has a double origin – Latin and Germanic. The German term Woge means instability, movement or oscillation. In Latin, however, the word vague may have one of two different roots: vacuus, which means available, empty, free or unoccupied, or vagus, which means confused, inaccurate, indeterminate,
46
This quotation is attributed to French composer Claude Debussy.
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