Reuse of vacancy
72 places in the atlas
Community-driven conversion of vacancies: abandoned houses, closed schools, factories, stations, barracks and hospitals brought back to life with collective uses.
Japan13
Chiiori / Valle de Iya篪庵
Miyoshi, Tokushima · Shikoku
A 300-year-old thatched farmhouse, pioneer of minka renovation in Japan.
Fukuoka Growth Nextフクオカグロースネクスト
Fukuoka · Kyushu
The former Daimyo primary school converted into a startup hub with over 400 companies, coworking and free advice.
HAGISO / hanare萩荘
Yanaka, Tokio · Kanto
A 1955 wooden apartment building saved from demolition and reborn as "Tokyo's smallest cultural complex".
Hajimari Art Centerはじまりの美術館
Inawashiro, Fukushima · Tohoku
A 130-year-old former sake distillery renovated as a small art brut museum with a vocation for social inclusion and community ties.
Inari-yu / Sento & Neighborhood稲荷湯
Kita, Tokio · Kanto
The NPO Sento & Neighborhood is restoring this 1930 bathhouse (on the WMF 2020 Watch List) and turned an adjacent century-old nagaya into a community…
Inujima Art House Project犬島
Isla Inujima, Okayama · Chugoku
Low-rise art pavilions woven into the hamlet and a museum in a former copper refinery.
Spain12
Astra
Gernika · País Vasco
Gernika's former arms factory converted, through youth and neighbourhood initiative, into a "social creation factory" co-managed with the town counci…
Can Batlló
La Bordeta, Barcelona · Cataluña
A 19th-century factory precinct recovered through neighbourhood pressure ("tick-tock, Can Batlló") and run communally: people's library, carpentry, b…
CSA La Tabacalera
Lavapiés, Madrid · Madrid
The former Embajadores Tobacco Factory, partly ceded as a self-managed social centre: workshops, rehearsals, a garden, screen printing and assemblies…
Geltoki
Pamplona · Navarra
Pamplona's former bus station converted into a space for social economy and sustainable food: a producers' market, a gastroteca, activities.
Harinera ZGZ
San José, Zaragoza · Aragón
An abandoned industrial flour mill turned into a community culture space governed three ways by the administration, a collective of cultural agents a…
La Casa Invisible
Málaga · Andalucía
A 19th-century mansion in central Málaga turned into a citizen-run social and cultural centre: critical thought, music, crafts and the defence of the…
France24
Base 11/19
Loos-en-Gohelle · Hauts-de-France
A former mine pit closed in 1986 in the town of Loos-en-Gohelle, converted into a reference hub for sustainable development with intensive resident p…
BLIIIDA
Metz · Grand Est
A former three-hectare bus depot in Metz, handed over to artists in 2013 during a Nuit Blanche and later transformed by the association TCRM Bliiida…
Coco Velten
Marseille · Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Temporary occupation of a former public building in central Marseille, led by Yes We Camp with Groupe SOS and Plateau Urbain.
Darwin Écosystème
Bordeaux · Nouvelle-Aquitaine
A former 19th-century military barracks, handed over in 2008 and transformed since 2011 into an ecological transition ecosystem with coworking space,…
Hôtel Pasteur
Rennes · Bretagne
A former dentistry faculty from the late 19th century, without university use since 1967 and converted since March 2021 into a third place led by the…
La Californie
Toucy · Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
A former industrial friche in Toucy transformed since 2018 by three local associations and residents into a space for making, experimentation and enc…
Italy23
BASE Milano
Milán · Lombardia
BASE Milano occupies 12,000 square metres of the former Ansaldo factory, in the Tortona district, following a public competition run by the city coun…
CAOS, Centro Arti Opificio SiriCAOS - Centro per le Arti Opificio Siri
Terni · Umbria
The former Siri chemical factory in Terni, acquired by the city council between 1997 and 2002 and converted since 2009 into a 5,600-square-metre cont…
Cascina Cuccagna
Milán · Lombardia
This 17th-century farmhouse, municipal property since 1984, was abandoned and declared uninhabitable in the 1990s.
Cavallerizza Reale
Turín · Piemonte
A 17th-century baroque complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, occupied since 2014 by a citizens' committee demanding cultural and civic use against i…
Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto
Biella · Piemonte
The artist Michelangelo Pistoletto founded Cittadellarte in 1998 in the former Lanificio Trombetta in Biella, a refurbished textile factory, to posit…
Ex Asilo FilangieriL'Asilo
Nápoles · Campania
A former 16th-century convent and asylum occupied in 2012 by cultural workers during the Naples theatre festival.
What they share: Vacancy is treated not as a problem but as ground available for the commons.