Schindlers Ark

Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Tucumán

Project idea

The Master Plan for the town of Brnenec consisted of the incorporation of two representative axes of the place. The first was called “Locus Axis”, understanding this word in its broadest sense, as everything that does and belongs to a place (from quantitative issues such as topography and climate, to intangible issues such as emotions and feelings of The identity of a people). And the second refers to the community life that the town longs for, with the hope of generating spaces of belonging and that its inhabitants choose to live and work there, providing spaces for recreation, coexistence, encounters and sustainability.

Project description

The “Locus Axis” consists of a linear walk that crosses key places in the town, connecting them to each other and taking advantage of the particular characteristics of the topography, in order to generate different sensations along its entire route. The premise was to create spaces that allow the user to enjoy a sensory and emotional experience that allows them to know and understand the essence of the place and everything that makes it unique and special.
The “Community Axis” was intended to be the engine of the city's development, achieved through its sustainable construction, reuse of recycled materials, and spaces that will allow the development of society in general. It was important in its design to try to respect most of the existing buildings, restoring them and giving them a new use, according to the needs of the different age ranges of the town. It was important to provide society with spaces where they can trade, work, produce and even generate their own food, as well as spaces for leisure and recreation. This axis has Co-Housing type housing blocks, where each user can enjoy the necessary privacy in their housing cell but enjoy community life in the large number and variety of shared and community spaces, such as common rooms. multiple, recreational walk over the stream, home for the elderly, daycare and youth building.
On the other hand, the town needed to restore and give new meaning to Oscar Schindler's old abandoned factory, the scene of one of the most incredible feats that occurred during the Second World War. The complex consists of buildings scattered on a piece of land that is surrounded by a stream, train tracks and the topography of the site, which turned it into a large urban barrier, which was exacerbated by its character of abandonment.
The objective of this plan was to generate a Memorial Museum for the victims of the Holocaust, but also to create a public space that is appropriate for the citizens of the town and visitors. That is why it was thought to generate a civic plaza surrounded by the existing buildings to be used as needed by users. Its large size and free plan allow the complex to be appreciated in all its splendor.
On the other hand, the dimensions and morphology of the factory made it an obsolete urban-scale facility, unable to take advantage of its full potential. To do this, it was proposed to generate a central opening that allows free passage from the sidewalk to the civic plaza, generating a transition space where different activities can be carried out and that connects with the refunctionalized areas of the building (offices, workshops, co-working, auditorium, etc.).
As for the space for memory and remembrance, a structure was proposed that unites and accompanies the three most significant buildings: The Ark, the German Garrison and the Schindler House, generating a route both inside and outside the buildings, allowing you to get to know them from another point of view and promoting the enjoyment of the spaces in a different way. The intention is that these “scaffolds” represent the physical and symbolic reconstruction of the place, the reconstruction of the memory and collective identity of a town and a community. On the other hand, the scaffolding also seeks to generate lost connections in the town, allowing access to the memorial from different areas.

Technical information

As a conclusion, it is worth highlighting the design guidelines that were followed throughout this entire project: accessibility, connectivity, sustainability over time, flexibility of activities, and above all the others: representativeness.