INNOVATIVE USE IN ADAPTATION OF POST MILITARY BARRACK COMPLEXES

ABSTRACT

Decommissioned historical military property is extensively used for civilian activities. Renovated historical army barracks have been turned into residential buildings, administrative and educational facilities, museums, even churches. Depots, garages and warehouses facilitate entrepreneurs and freight forwarders. Airports serve the needs of civilian and leisure aviation. While these functions have all been successfully introduced into historical post-military architecture, saving it from demolition and vacancy, they are hardly moneymakers. They won’t tempt potential high-stake investors into devoting their resources to barrack complexes and only significant financial expenses can keep large compounds from being broken apart. Unfortunately, partitioning of large post military facilities is a common practice. It speeds up the sale and helps the seller achieve a higher price. Yet, dividing post-military facilities obliterates their utility as educational aids and bearers of local tradition, as their primary value is typological. A large post-military compound can only bring significant profit, if it contains various functions, profitable both during the day and at night. These innovatively developed compounds must encompass functions catering to diverse activities of various social groups. They must become a mix-use development city sub-district. The paper explores case studies of innovative adaptations expanding the lifecycle of historic post-military compounds, while retaining their antiquarian appeal.

Keywords: sustainable regeneration, military barrack complexes, cultural landscape, social cohesion, mixed-use land patterns