Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Building, Tidan
From Local Analysis to Spatial Intervention
Project Type
Spatial Strategy & Design
Location
Tidan, Skövde Municipality, Sweden
Focus
Adaptive Reuse | Spatial Strategy | Local Systems
Tools
Revit | GIS | Spatial Analysis
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This project explores how underused industrial spaces can be reactivated through a combination of local analysis, systems thinking, and spatial design.
Working within the rural context of Tidan, the approach began by examining how infrastructure, resources, and everyday activities are distributed across the locality. This understanding informed the identification of an abandoned factory as a key opportunity for intervention.
The proposal transforms the building into a flexible, multi-use environment supporting social interaction, small-scale production, and local economic activity. Rather than a fixed outcome, the project adopts an incremental approach, allowing the space to evolve over time.
Understanding the Local Context
The project began by looking at Tidan beyond the building itself, understanding how the locality functions, what exists, and what is missing.
Tidan is characterized by dispersed development, strong agricultural landscapes, and limited shared public infrastructure. Everyday activities are spread out, with few spaces that support collective use or interaction.
Historically, the factory supported local life and employment. With its decline, much of that activity has disappeared, leaving fewer reasons for people to stay or gather.
Today, the population is aging, while younger residents move toward larger cities in search of opportunities and social life. This shift has reduced local vibrancy and limited new development
Reading the System
Dispersed structure weakens collective life
Residential areas, services, and landscapes are spread out.
Connections are limited, reducing everyday interaction.
Image : The spatial distribution of services prevents the formation of shared routines, reducing opportunities for repeated social interaction
Loss of industrial core reduces activity
The factory once structured employment and movement.Its absence has left no system to sustain local activity or attract younger populations.
Image: With the factory gone, the system that structured everyday life collapsed.
Existing spaces remain underused.
Available buildings and landscapes lack clear purpose or activation. Despite strong local resources, their potential remains largely untapped.
Image: Despite the availability of productive land, the absence of organizational structures and local systems prevents its integration into everyday use.
System Potential
The observations from Tidan indicate not a lack of resources, but a lack of connection, activation, and continuity.
Across spatial, social, and infrastructural layers, the condition is one of underutilized potential within a fragmented system.
Tidan already contains the components of a functioning local system, meeting spaces, historical structures, social groups, and environmental assets, but these remain disconnected.
Spaces are underused, initiatives do not scale, and movement prioritizes efficiency over interaction.
As a result, value exists in isolation rather than compounding.
This suggests that future potential lies not in adding new structures, but in reorganizing and connecting what already exists.
Image: The factory acts as a central anchor, connecting spatial, social, and productive elements into a coordinated local system.
Factory as a System Anchor
A phased approach to activating local systems
Rather than introducing a fixed program, the factory is positioned as an adaptable starting point for system activation.
The intervention initiates connections, enables activity, and allows the system to evolve over time.
Phase 1 — Initiate
Focus: Start small, reduce risk
Minimal, low-risk activities are introduced within the existing structure.
Temporary uses such as small-scale production, workshops, and shared spaces, create presence and test engagement.
Phase 2 — Connect
Focus: Link systems
As activity stabilizes, connections form between the factory and surrounding public spaces, local actors, and movement networks.
The factory begins to operate as part of a wider system.
Phase 3 — Expand
Focus: Scale + evolve
Successful activities grow, and new functions emerge based on local needs.
The system evolves through adaptation rather than predefined outcomes.
A large industrial structure positioned within the local landscape, currently underutilized.
High spatial capacity is currently used for low-value functions such as seasonal vehicle storage.
Elevated views reveal the building’s connection to the surrounding landscape and settlement.
A large industrial structure positioned within the local landscape, currently underutilized.
Phased Spatial Activation Strategy
Image: Spatial interventions are introduced incrementally, allowing activity to emerge and expand over time rather than being fully predefined.
Image: This section illustrates a potential state of the factory when fully activated, where diverse activities emerge and coexist over time rather than being predefined.
System Outcomes & Strategic Implications
The proposed intervention does not aim to introduce a fixed outcome, but to enable a shift in how the system functions over time.
This project does not propose a fixed solution, but a way of working with existing systems.
Rather than introducing new structures, it focuses on activating what is already present, enabling connections, supporting continuity, and allowing spatial and social value to emerge over time.
The factory is not positioned as a final outcome, but as a starting point, a catalyst that enables the system to reorganize itself.
This approach suggests that meaningful transformation does not necessarily require large-scale interventions, but can begin through small, strategic actions that unlock existing potential.
While developed in the context of Tidan, this framework can be applied to other small towns and underutilized environments where resources exist but remain disconnected.