Maroš Krivý, “The Idea of Empty Space: Pro Kaapeli Movement and the Cable Factory in Helsinki,” Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu—Finnish Journal of Urban Studies 48, 3 (2010), 9–25.
This is a study of the 1989–1991 transformation of the Cable Factory in Helsinki, led by the so-called Pro Kaapeli (“For the Cable Factory”) movement. I explore the emergence of a new architectural and political idea of transforming obsolete industrial space, and a new sensibility for what I call “empty space”. Pro Kaapeli defended the idea of leaving Cable Factory without a specific function, and considered its ostensible emptiness as a desirable quality. Instead of perceiving this space negatively, it recognized its negativity. Unintendedly, the movement’s success precipitated the adoption of the creative city discourse by planners in Helsinki and Finland. Borrowing Fredric Jameson’s term, Pro Kaapeli was a “vanishing mediator” between the industrial and post-industrial city.
This is a study of the 1989–1991 transformation of the Cable Factory in Helsinki, led by the so-called Pro Kaapeli (“For the Cable Factory”) movement. I explore the emergence of a new architectural and political idea of transforming obsolete industrial space, and a new sensibility for what I call “empty space”. Pro Kaapeli defended the idea of leaving Cable Factory without a specific function, and considered its ostensible emptiness as a desirable quality. Instead of perceiving this space negatively, it recognized its negativity. Unintendedly, the movement’s success precipitated the adoption of the creative city discourse by planners in Helsinki and Finland. Borrowing Fredric Jameson’s term, Pro Kaapeli was a “vanishing mediator” between the industrial and post-industrial city.
