Reincarnation in the Industrial Waste Lands; a Review on Peter Latz Post Industrial Approach

As the efforts were increased by the environmental movements for scorning the industries in destroying the life and the ecosystem, the art was celebrating its reborn. Some tried to show the beauty of the violent and dead masses that were expired in history, in order to claim that the beauty is not hidden in the bodies and simplicities alone. The “upcycled art “is a new artistic approach which was formed as a framework in the process of reducing the expenses and conserving the environment. This kind of art makes the used and expired ones lively again. In the time where the music was played by the iron bars and metal bins, and the sculptures were created by the metal chains and gears, new changes were taking place in the field of architecture and landscape architecture. The ruined sites where once used to be the economical pulse of the city and showcased the big gap between the bourgeois and proletarians have been apart from the city life now. “Peter Latz” made these sites, which told their story of time, the main context of his design by using the potential qualities in altering these evacuated areas to interesting and popular places in the city. Although the upcycling process of the waste dates back in the early 90s and the tendencies of other approaches in the upcycling appeared in the early years in 2002, Peter Latz has showcased his ideas of reclamation of the derelict sites few years earlier in Buergerpark Hafeninsel and his reputable project, the Duisburg-Nord Park in 1985. His techniques of landscape are new interpretations in the landscape language. The rusty and useless elements of the factories and the harbors that cause demolition to the nature, which require extra budgets to be recycled, are upcycled in his landscape design. Latz do not prepare any special procedure for the derelict sites, his methods are self - evident. Despite this, he redevelops procedures and methods for every project so that they become identical with the project. Analysis also includes working through the clichés that exist for that particular type of task, to define the layers of intervention and to specify the elements that are available to work with. His designs are multi – dimensional. In some places, which he calls bad places, his sharp mind gets the context information and information syntax is provided as a result. His profession is not valuated timeless; they represent a period of painful industrial history. He uses the open – ended planning technique to let public participation and to create a sense of affiliation. He generates a unique scene of the live and dead elements together by putting the green grass by the rotten iron bars. As well as an understanding of the past, the present is also understood with some conception of the future, however vague. Eventually, he presents the beauty in his terms of aesthetics. Now the ones, who praised Olmsted and were against Latz ideas, will admire him for his successfulness for sure.