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 Fresh life for desolate Buildings Revitalization, Restoration, Conversion or Recycling of unused Buildings/Factory Areas of public interest in the City of Gjakova, Kosovo This Visit report of the Basel Working Group for Conversions in Gjakova (BWGCG), was compiled by Georg Fankhauser, based on input from group members and as discussed within the group. A professional photo documentation of all sites and the visit was made by Martin Zeller. These pictures as well as internal fact sheets compiled in German language by group members can be used as modules in subsequent phases (e.g. for fundraising in Switzerland and Germany) and can be made available to interested and committed project partners on request. We also refer to the presentation already distributed ‘ Conversion as an Opportunity’ and to the websites of the group members. A personal presentation by the author and one or two group members to an interested audience will be organized in Gjakova between 23.of Sept. and 5.October 2015, followed by a dialogue and brainstorming together with the invited audience. 1 Report Visit: Members of BWGCG: Motivation and context: Objectives of the visit: Key persons met : Sites visited: from May 31. until June 9. 2015. Irene Wigger, www.wiggerarchitekten.ch/ Vai Keng Sou, artist in visual arts and writer, souvaikeng@gmail.com Martin Zeller, www.studiozeller.com Georg Fankhauser, www.gjakovabasel.com Peter Jäger (until July 5.), www.pjp.ch As a follow up of the GjakovaBasel Meeting held on 30./31. January 2015 in Basel at Gundeldingerfeld, a former industrial site of turbine production converted into a multifunctional site and venue, GjakovaBasel suggested and motivated the group to visit Gjakova in order to get a first impression of the possibilities for conversions and to share these impressions with the municipality and other interested parties. Gain a first and subjective overview and understanding of -­‐ conversion potentials -­‐ specific opportunities/threats and operating conditions at present in Kosovo, especially Gjakova, compared to Switzerland -­‐ existing ideas and projects, dreams and failed attempts -­‐ specific constraints and obstacles, (hard and soft factors) -­‐ real needs and initiatives from various local user groups, stakeholders and civil society groups and NGOs, To initiate dialogue with Municipality and identified key persons from user initiative groups and opinion leaders Municipality of Gjakova Silvana Domi, Director Economic Development
Burim Meqa, Director, Projects For others see Appendix 1 Metaliku (No. 17 on the Map in Appendix 2), Elektromotori(No. 51), Virxhinia (No 18, Mobili building), Jatex (No.19), Duraku (No.21, Intertex), for reference only Ereniku hall (former part of Duraku 21) and other sites and buildings of potential public interest in this context according to chapter V 2 Site seeing during the stay included: -­‐ in Gjakova: Carshia e Madhe and Hotel Jupa, old Mosque, JIC, Tourist Information Centre, Kulturpalast incl. new gallery in the foyer, Music School Prenk Jakova, Cabrati, Shkugeza, various quarters of old and new town and suburbs incl. Xeni Imperial, REA housings and recycling activities at Kolonia. -­‐ Excursion to Terstenik and Drenas, Mitrovica (concert at the bridge) passing through Klina and Skenderaj and to Rahovec and Malisheva The group was enchanted by the very friendly, open (and often English or German speaking) people we met and the big and to average Swiss people unknown possibilities and potential for tourism. Friendly landscape, beautiful mountains, interesting cultural heritage buildings, peaceful and attracting pedestrian city areas, very good accommodation, good food incl. local wines, all this at almost irritating low prices, are additional reasons to come back to Kosovo soon. Thanks and Acknowledgments The group was impressed by the warm welcome and the openness of the people we met during the visit and wants to thank everybody in particularl Sylvana Domi and Burim Meqa from the Municipality and Malush Tullumi from GjakovaBasel for their time, interest and big assistance during the visit. The visit of the desolate sites, the facts collected about the glorious times when these factories were in full swing and the meetings and interviews with people from Gjakova, (most of themselves or their parents were at the time proud collaborators in these factories) was very touching on a personal level. It became obvious to the group, that the occurred steep decline of the flourishing industries not only destroyed thousands of jobs and income in virtually every family, but also many vital sociocultural values and left the population of Gjakova with a collective trauma related to these sites. This in addition to all other pains and difficulties Gjakova went through in the last twenty years. Even though some of our described impressions, approaches for chances and drafted visions will look provocative or just crazy in the beginning, it is the group’s serious wish to support positive developments, to overcome external and also internal, psychological barriers but always in full respect towards the past of Gjakova and biographical background of people involved. 3 I General Impression First time visitors are intrigued by the wasted space and apparently unlimited reserves of constructible surface close to the centres of the towns. Kosovo presents itself as a scattered construction area, where small business, housing, some industrial and trade and sport activities and hotel/motels (Sale Dashmave) and gasoline stations are popping up in an often surprisingly uncoordinated way. Foreign visitors easily get the impression, with some exceptional areas, that consistent urban and rural planning is either non existent, very early stage or not fully applied and enforced. The result often spoils the tourist’s view of the pleasant landscape, great nature in rural areas and beautiful mountains Kosovo is surrounded by. Apparently private investors prefer to invest in buildings and if so, then linked to consumption or commerce, road transport infrastructure and housing. One rarely sees half destroyed buildings left from the war but many, small and also some very big, half finished and probably stranded real estate investments. Reasons could be disputed legal permit and ownership, lack of financing, unclear or unrealistic destination of use, bad planning or no plan at all. Compared to Switzerland industrial buildings, dating from before 1900, seem to be extremely rare and buildings suitable for conversion date mostly from the 30s until the early 90s of the last century. II Sites visited The industrial sites visited are located in the suburbs near the main roads to Prizren and to Peja with good transport connections and well positioned to be served later by public transport. The buildings date mostly from the 70s, 80s and some unfinished from early 90s and were all planned and built according to international industry standards of that time. The industries pushed in Gjakova at a very large scale until the decline of former Yugoslavia were heavy metal products and textiles. Except for the site DURAKU, where we visited INTERTEX for reference reasons only, and which was privatized recently, all industrial sites visited are under the regime of the National Agency for Privatisation and /or owned by the former workers of the factories. Municipality has interest and can apply to bring these sites under local regime. Yet it depends on the goodwill and orderly functioning of the responsible commission in Pristina. The positions of the former workers and directors and their representatives are unclear. Some mention their readiness to do whatever is necessary in the interest of a positive development and new life in the unused factories. Others, at the extreme, still believe in a revival of the former activities including re-­‐establishing their former positions or are speculating to sell their shares one day to an investor interested in the, as they think, very high valued assets. 4 III Chances for Conversion Projects There are plenty of industrial sites and other buildings in Gjakova either unfinished (stranded investments), finished but never used for the intended purpose, are abandoned since years or just unused waiting to be rent, sold, restored or torn down giving place to new projects. Therefor at first view there are plenty of opportunities and also a big need for new ideas and initiatives to bring fresh life to these unused buildings. The system applied for the last decades regarding real estate taxes, rural and urban planning and re-­‐privatization apparently favours constructing on virgin agricultural land and free space in town (public and private) for new projects rather than refurbishing and conversion of unused buildings. The predominant mind-­‐set and habits also rather prefer new buildings, new furniture, etc. with traditional or a mix of commercial stylish elements rather than a restoration und refurbishment giving new value to old parts and traditional materials in combination with contemporary design and up to date standards. Successful conversion projects in Switzerland and an elsewhere are never the result of a simple commercial template and mainstream thinking. They were all develop by teams of motivated people ready to think out of the box and always in dialogue with originally involved and newly attracted stakeholders and user groups. Conversion projects need and somehow naturally attract people acting and experimenting as pioneers regarding trends in society and life style. It goes without saying, that conversion projects normally attract the generation interested in equal right of genders, inclusive cooperation and cohabitation models regarding different communities and sustainable, environment friendly solutions and behaviour. In view of the above mentioned, the group sees many chances and a big need for conversions but is not sure, whether the owner issue (hard factors) can be solved and whether the sociocultural context is favourable and whether enough encouraged people can be identified (soft factors). For the needs as such and also for the financing possibilities, the group is rather confident, in particular regarding funds from international NGO and programs, partnerships and alternative financing schemes like crowd funding. The group and some additionally attracted people experienced in conversion projects from Switzerland and Germany are interested and ready to find out more about the relevant hard and soft factors in Gjakova and the financing possibilities in parallel. Group members involved will carry their cost and expenses in the next phase themselves or from their own funding sources. But the group would hope to further count on the interest, goodwill and cooperation of the municipality. 5 IV Approach in seven steps The approach can be summarized as follows: 1.
Create awareness of sites and their potential for conversion 2.
Identify local stakeholder/user groups, their needs and ideas 3.
Formulate alternative and competing visions, brainstorm ideas and concepts 4.
Evaluate and clear ownership issue and options to buy, lease etc. 5.
Sort out priorities and define best site/project to start with 6.
Establish structure regarding ownership and decision making process 7.
Elaborate project including financing 8.
Get final approval and start implementing selected project. Action plan for step 1 and 2 1. Create awareness of sites and their potential for conversion a) between 23.Sept. and 5.Oct. 2015 in Gjakova (JIC): Presentation and discussion of group’s visit report incl. photos of Gjakova sites, conversion examples from Switzerland and draft vision for Metaliku (uncompleted storage hall) as a teaser b) Exposition in October/ November 2015 at suitable places in Gjakova of artistic photo shoots from sites visited c) Exposition in November/December 2015 of photos of interiors and equipment today of sites recalling the past d) Collecting historical facts and photographs and stories from former workers. Oral History project starting early 2016. 2. Identify local stakeholder/user groups, their needs and ideas a) 2015/2016: networking with potential stakeholders, activists, user groups and key people of successful conversions projects in Kosovo (Pristina, Prizren?) and Switzerland (Basel and Zürich Region) and Germany. b) 2016: Install in the city centre an information centre combined with a coffee bar serving as meeting/exposition/discussion forum for the public and the stakeholders of future conversion projects c) Visit of committed key peoples to conversion projects in Basel and/or Germany. Action plan for step 3 – 8 developed by local activists, if wished, supported by Basel Working Group for Conversions in Gjakova (BWGCG) and others. 6 V Other Projects and Opportunities in Gjakova and possible Support through BWGCG During their visit the group also learned about some other pending projects or saw opportunities not directly linked to conversion of industrial sites. The group members and their network could support such pending projects or help to boost and compliment activities in existing institutions. Below are listed the sites/Institutions and the kind of support in mind. Any follow up to be discussed, if interest exists, directly by the people officially in charge for the Institution/site. Site/Institution activity possible support 1. Jakova Innovation Centre increase actual utilisation Networking/teaser 2. Bonevet International Partners Networking 3. Gallery at Kulturpalast Cross border Art Projects Networking/teaser 4. Music School Prenk Jakova Art Events, Congresses Networking/teaser 5. Old Music School Provisional Art Interventions Networking 6. Desolate store in the centre Prov. install info/meeting corner accord. action 2.b
7. Desolate residential street restoration project looking for funds 8. Pavilion in main Park restoration project know how /funds 9. Waste Management conversion and recycling formation in Basel Basel, July 2015 Georg Fankhauser, georg.fankhauser@gjakovabasel.com 7 Appendix 1 Key persons met and interviewed from Gjakova Municipality and other groups: Municipality of Gjakova Silvana Domi, Burim Meqa, Hana …… Municipality of Gjakova Meriton Ferizi, Director for Culture Artist Associations Gjakova Alban Meka Gemni Xerxa… Phinnix … At sites visited various present and former workers and directors, including Agim Jaka, director Mataliku Bonevet, makers space Leke Zherka, Manager Intellectuals Agim Byci Architects Bekim Kryeziu Arnisa Kryeziu Fisnik Zherka Berisha Ganay Anyla Berisha Heroina Maloku Musicians Visar Kuci, concertmeister Philharmony Orchestra Pristina Helvetas in Kosovo Heini Conrad, Country Director Norbert Pijls Christian Wirz GjakovaBasel Malush Tullumi Dorothea Fankhauser Leke Zherka Hana Byci Persons on the list to be contacted next: Regional Centre for Osman Gojani Cultural Heritage and many others. Readers of this report are invited to suggest and connect the group members. 8 Appendix 2 9