Informally functional: Interim spaces and urban renewal in Franklin, Santiago

Abstract

This research is focused on the abandonment trajectory followed by an old factory building in the Franklin district, Santiago, Chile. The study establishes a timeline of the building’s postindustrial uses, from informality to formality. Buildings are understood as process-related objects that are constantly being rearranged based on their uses and meanings, in spite of their topographic stillness. The article discusses two critical dimensions to understand the building’s production trajectory: Occupation time and acknowledgement of its formality. The former is achieved by displaying how the use of buildings under the notion of “interim spaces” appears as a way of managing urban renewal processes.