Kõpi Wasteland

Belen Zevallos

This work is a practical reflection about the process of change of Köpi wasteland.While trying to discover the impact of the Berlin Wall today, we ended up discovering a hidden project. We found a place, an old military area, a footprint of the Berlin Wall. This area is defined today as a wasteland, a nowhere. We decided to study the area through a direct exploratory journey into the understanding of this place. Through our lived experience, the wasteland label of this nowhere place was tested through an exploring and questioning methodology. Little by little we discovered that this is not a wasteland. After studying the place it became obvious that the label wasteland is not accurate for it. So the development of a new word was needed. NowHERE is this word. This explains the paradox that wastelands confront in their everyday existence. The main issue with wastelands is not the lack of program as some may argue, but the lack of knowledge about these spaces as Secchi1 points out. What is really happening there? One of the most important changes throughout this research process was the recognition of this space as a place. Thus, the present work consists of a documentation of the “project” that is already there, explaining its “uncertain” status as a positive characteristic. Furthermore, reflects about the understanding of a project-place before the conventional developing phase of design of a project for a place, and how to bring these nowHERE qualities to design as a time continuity.