Located between the European Solidarity Centre and the WWII Museum in Gdańsk, Poland, “Co-Labora” reclaims the post-industrial waterfront as an inclusive public space rooted in memory and co-production. Drawing on the ethos of the Solidarity movement, it transforms the historic shipyard into an adaptable urban landscape.
A new layer is introduced through collective making spaces, where tools like 3D printers reinterpret industrial production. Traces of the past are revived and woven into the present as active agents of continuity. The spatial openness of design ensures adaptability to evolve with the city’s changing needs. Blending programs with ecological strategies, the project resists privatization and fosters engagement.
Rather than a static memorial, the project becomes a living platform: it animates forgotten infrastructures, reawakens the memory embedded in material and space, and reimagines Gdańsk’s waterfront as a site of shared making and shared futures.
Author: Esra Sayın
Studio: ARCH 402 Spring 2025
Instructor(s): Meral Özdengiz Başak
