Page 212 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 193

all these features were conserved, some in situ like the dressing machine and the kiln
furnace while the bucket elevators have been moved to the main entrance hall. The
doors to the grain containers were also kept but moved elsewhere.
In general, the conversion project retained as many of the original features as pos-
sible. Most floors were arranged in section to account for the available ceiling height,
with bedrooms, bathrooms, and utilities in the lowest areas, and living rooms in the
higher ones. Little use was made of new materials, and new windows, while intention-
ally noticeable, are not invasive (Industrial Archaeology, 2017).

6.2.2.12 Dairy and Ice Factory, Berlin, Germany

The founder of the dairy factory, Carl Bolle, paved the way for Berlin’s economic
boom in late 1800s. In contemporary Spree-Bogen area, Bolle installed production
areas and workshops, accommodation for thousands of his workers, coachmen and
milkmaids, social facilities, stables, and carts. Today’s event spaces originally
served as a ballroom and factory chapel and later became a margarine production
area. Then the building became one of Berlin’s first cinemas. Later on, it became a
theatre. Between 1913 and 1924, the factory was enlarged to include three cooling
houses and a boiler house with an engine room close to the river. In 1914, enor-
mous ice generators and cooling machines were installed. At the end of the 1920s,
the factory’s entrance gate was enlarged to allow the transport of ice on railways.
The ice blocks were loaded onto wagons from the cooling house ramps and trans-
ported to the freight terminal of the railway station. The production of ice blocks
declined after WWII and completely ceased in 1991. Over the next 20 years the
former ice factory buildings deteriorated and some of the cooling houses were
demolished in 2010. Today, the existing buildings are protected by the Berlin con-
servation authorities.
The building underwent extensive renovation in 2013–2014 in line with strict
conservation requirements. During these renovation works, the special flavor of
the industrial architecture was emphasized and modernized. Ceilings up to 8 m
high, bare brick walls, tall steel-framed windows, cast-iron pillars of this listed
building make it typical of Berlin’s industrial architecture. The newly extended
roof terrace and the former cinema projection room converted into Bolle’s Bar
are two new highlights. The building now houses several event halls, a bar/
restaurant, a four-star hotel and shops. The enlargement toward the Spree is char-
acterized by a series of brickwork and steel-and-glass structures. Other parts of the
site are planned for redevelopment at the time of writing (May 2018) (Berliner
Zeitung, 2015).

6.2.2.13 Kurashiki Factory, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

A former masking tape factory in Kurashiki City, Japan was recently converted into
new uses. For 90 years the building was used for mixing the paste used in the
manufacturing of the masking tape. To be converted, the building was stripped back
to its concrete frame and a new roof added, supported by slim steel columns running