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Metelkova

As technological change drives globalisation..
As post-industrial ways of living spread..
As the balance of power shifts towards developing countries..
Creativity emerges as a key factor in development..
Cultural trade grows rapidly..
Creating stark new challenges for business and the arts.


 
 
The cell block in the former army base Metelkova, in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, has been converted by a team of designers (one per cell) into one of Europe’s most trendy back-packer hostels. The site is home to an ‘autonomous cultural community’ that includes clubs, live music spaces, art galleries and artist studios. It has an uneasy relationship with the city authorities.

Many abandoned military facilities have been re-invented for cultural use. There are interesting examples in Fort Canning (the British colonial era HQ) in Singapore, 798 in Beijing (Bauhaus-inspired arms factories built by East Germany in the 1950s) and Prague’s Bunkr Parukářka (a former nuclear shelter).
 
 


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