Halele Carol has managed to provide the empty part of an industrial complex with a renewed purpose for the creative community in Bucharest. With the private company Hesper S.A. still utilising part of the complex for the production of hydraulic pumps, Halele Carol has transformed the remaining part into an important addition to the cultural and creative scene of the city. This was first initiated through an organic renovation process, making use of temporary initiatives. Currently, a well-established nightclub has settled in the complex.
The factory complex in which Halele Carol is situated, is located close to Carol Park in the area of Filaret hill. This area was one of the first industrial areas in the city, and during the 19th century used to be the innovation district, and important economic motor, of Bucharest. Currently, industrial activity in the area has greatly diminished, leaving many unutilised factory buildings behind.
The building in which Halele Carol is housed was erected as part of the Wolff Factory in the late 19th century. Nowadays, the factory complex is owned by the private company Hesper S.A.. Part of the facility is still used to produce hydraulic pumps. In that, the factory is one of the last active manufacturing sites in Bucharest, and the last active site in the Filaret hill area. Due to declining business, part of the complex remains unused, and the company struggles with maintaining the complex. [1]
The initiative Halele Carol aims to prevent the deterioration of the historic buildings and preserve their value, while finding a modern use for them that does not interferes with the productive activities that still take place in the factory.
In 2013, activities begin to make the site, and surrounding part of the industrial district, safe for public access. The idea is to, through temporary initiatives, generate revenue for step by step renovation of parts of the historic building. Many events, including concerts, electronic music festivals, design and architecture exhibitions, public debates and film nights, as well as workshops for children on architecture and heritage. A process of organic transformation is started, which allows a wide range of creatives and community member to be involved in the development of activities in the building. [1; 3]
In 2015, a tragic fire in another re-purposed factory in the city puts a sudden stop to all activities. For safety reasons, the owner of the factory decides that all temporary activities have to be halted. In 2016, the factory becomes the permanent home to an established club in Bucharest – Expirat. [1; 3]
In 2001, the ministry of Culture introduces the topic of industrial heritage in Bucharest. Ten years later, Zepplin, a non-profit organization that conducts architectural projects and cultural programs in Romania and Europe, start to actively promote the topic in the city of Bucharest.
In 2013, a knowledge exchange project is started between Zepplin, and Eurodite, a Dutch based organization that is active in area development within European cooperation projects. As part of the project Dutch experts are brought to Bucharest to share good practices in temporary re-use in industrial heritage.
The cooperation between Dutch and Romanian experts is able to convince the owners of Hesper S.A., who still own the complex, to utilise part of the building for cultural purposes. Given that Hesper S.A. is not utilizing the whole complex for its manufacturing activities, the cultural use enables renovation of the unutilised parts of the building. [1; 3; 4; 5]
A grant of €18.000,- from the Creative Industries Fund NL allowed for the initial knowledge exchange project to be executed. Through this project, Dutch experts in adaptive re-use of industrial heritage, helped Zeppling and Hesper S.A. to analyse various business models for the factory’s long-term development.
In 2015, Zepplin led an applied for a EEA-Grant to organize cultural events and cultural education on site. Within the framework of this project, several Norwegian and Romanian artists and architects were granted €200.000,- for installations and interventions on the Halele Carol site.
Hesper S.A., formally still responsible for maintenance of the factory complex, has provided many non-financial resources to the initiative, including access to the factory buildings and the provision of free labour for renovation purposes. More non-financial resources in the form of knowledge and expertise were supplied by both Zepplin, Eurodite and the active community of creatives involved in the Halele Carol initiative. [1]
Halele Carol Observatory Case Report – OpenHeritage (2019). Writer: Alina Tomescu (Eurodite) Contributors: Joep, de Roo; Meta, van Drunen; Cristiana, Stoian (Eurodite); Constantin, Goagea (Zeppelin), available on https://openheritage.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/8_OpenHeritage_Bucharest_observatory-case.pdf, accessed on 20-07-2022.
Website Hesper SA – About Us: https://www.hesper.ro/en/about-us/, accessed on 20-07-2022.
Website Expirat Club – Home: https://expirat.org/, accessed on 20-07-2022
Website of Halele Carol Initiative hosted by the website of Zepplin Association: https://e-zeppelin.ro/category/halele-carol/?fbclid=IwAR2M-9Q7UfyVWaaZj0deznkz0fx5_p9cgk7AvHknY_pEzBofjK3C1gkX-zQ, accessed on 20-07-2022
Website of Eurodite – What we do: https://eurodite.eu/what-we-do/, accessed on 20-07-2022