Located in Eberswalde, Germany, the former Eberswalde Schlachthof (slaughterhouse), originally built in 1886, sits along the Finowkanal – a once vital trade route connecting surrounding areas, including Berlin. An analysis of the site reveals an eclectic identity, where buildings from diverse historical periods are actively restored and preserved.
In response to this context, this design project proposes the adaptive reuse of the former slaughterhouse into a fixer’s collective. The program integrates spaces for community events, a restoration workshop, and residential attic. Together, these functions merge domestic, communal, and historical layers into a prototypical interior design that mirrors the city’s unique identity.
This conceptual model explores the idea of an extended field of vision and intertwined juxtapositions through fragmented, embossed representations of the Eberswalde slaughterhouse, inviting close inspection and shifting perspectives. A puddle-shaped reflective surface expands these viewpoints outward, integrating and fragmenting the viewer’s own reflection within the composition.
Accessed via a choice of two entrances –
one emerging through a central staircase –
the design immediately signals a departure
from conventional circulation. Boundaries
between public and private, past and present,
are intentionally blurred to ensure a level of
discomfort conducive to curiosity.
Phantom exterior structures, composed of relocated original brick, trace the footprint of missing, original elements, and re-situating memory within the existing landscape. Transparent and reflective materials further reposition the inhabitant within the space and the outside world, revealing typically hidden functions and initiating a dialogue between the interior and exterior. In doing so, the design is meant to heighten awareness, foster curiosity and expand perception.