Report: RE:purpose Förvaltningshuset

How are our possibilities to preserve and develop buildings shaped by the values that guide decision-making? This question was at the centre of Team Framtidsminne’s work exploring how innovative design approaches can support the transformation of existing buildings, as part of the practice-based research project Transformation – RE:purpose.

Through an open call, three interdisciplinary teams were selected to explore possible ways of supporting the transition within the construction and real estate sectors towards increased management and transformation of existing buildings.

Team Framtidsminne focused on Förvaltningshuset at Umeå University campus. The work took its starting point in a critique of how buildings are valued within planning and development processes, where economic calculations are often prioritised over social, cultural and ecological values.

Through inventories, archival research and interviews, the team mapped the building’s technical, historical and social values. The material was organised into a value matrix that visualises how different values interact and sometimes come into conflict with one another.

In the report, the team presents a transformation and management proposal in which new ways of using the building are explored within its existing structures and based on its spatial and architectural qualities. The team also proposes policy instruments that could strengthen long-term management and demonstrates how a broader understanding of value can contribute to more nuanced and sustainable transformation strategies.

The work was carried out within the practice-based research project Transformation – RE:purpose, a collaboration between ArkDes, Boverket ↗, Riksantikvarieämbetet ↗ and Fastighetsägarna ↗, funded by Vinnova ↗.