Page 204 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 185

The MAAM residents, most of whom are poor and unemployed, maintain the
museum together with curator de Finis. To protect their privacy and lest the police
displace them, they open the museum only on Saturdays and for special events. Entry
is free, though a donation is welcome.
Rome had already experienced the insertion of art in a place of death with the
Macro of the former Testaccio slaughterhouse (see above), which for decades had
fed meat to the people. But inputting” life” inside a museum and the other way round,
as MAAM does, is something unique (MAAM, 2017).
The case described below is similar to the Testaccio slaughterhouse. The Matadouro
slaughterhouse at Porto, Portugal was once a major economic contributor to the city.
But since its closure in 1990, several developments—including the football stadium
and a busy highway—have been constructed around the building, isolating it from
the rest of the city. The disused slaughterhouse will now be converted into a cultural
center, including art galleries and a library among other amenities (Dezeen, 2018c).

Adaptive Reuse: Brief Stories of Success

An earlier tramshed in Glasgow, UK was converted into a contemporary art venue: it opened as
Tramway during Glasgow’s Year of Culture in 1990 (Arnesen, 2006)
The Fakenham Museum of Gas and Local History, Norfolk, United Kingdom is the last complete
non-operational gasworks left in England. Established in 1846 to provide gas lighting for the town,
Fakenham Gas Works ceased production of gas in 1965 after the discovery of natural gas in the
North Sea. The museum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, providing an insight into cultural,
social, and industrial heritage. The museum is run entirely by volunteers and members of “The
Friends of the Museum.” (http://fakenhamgasmuseum.com/)
Old Cheddar’s Lane pumping station, Cambridge, UK, was built in 1894 to house two steam
engines and pumps to pump the town’s sewage to the treatment works 3 km away. Household
rubbish was burned as boiler fuel to raise the steam to drive the engines. The site closed in 1968. It
is now the Cambridge Museum of Technology (Historic England, 2019b).
The Berengo Center for contemporary art and glass is located in Murano (Venice, Italy) inside
the rehabilitated complex of former Domus Vetri d’Arte (House of art-glasses). Murano is the
ancient Italian center of art glass-making (Berengo Studio, 2015).
The Molino Stucky is a Neo-Gothic building in Venice, built from 1884 to 1895. It was first built
as a flour mill supplied by boats across the lagoon and also operated as a pasta factory. It began to
decline in the 1910s before being permanently closed in 1955. A rehabilitation project began in
1998. The owners went into partnership with the Hilton Hotels chain in the mid-2000s, with a plan
to convert the building into a hotel and conference center, a rooftop swimming pool and a con-
ference hall for 2000 attendees. Rehabilitation work was in progress when a major fire hit on
15 April 2003, causing extensive damage. The complex eventually opened in June 2007 (Daily
Mail, 2017)
The Cantoni Cotton Mill, Venice was inaugurated in 1883. Partially destroyed by fire in 1916,
the cotton mill was rebuilt. It remained in operation until 1960, and then was abandoned for
30 years before rehabilitation in the 1990s. The main building now houses an important part
of the university: classrooms, the “Archivio Progetti” (including a data bank for architecture
and industrial design techniques, and a study room with nine consultation seats), the exhibition
hall, a main office, and a deposit (IUAV, n.d.).