Juraj Koban: Unique thanks to simplicity

“The idea was to create crystallized points in housing units, where human warmth will be flow through getting together, talking, culture, and art…,“ asserts Juraj Koban, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Technical University in Košice, who is also the originator of the idea on how to transform the heat exchange units into cultural points SPOTS.

How did the idea to use the heat exchange units for a different purpose than their original one – for culture come about?
The head of the Heat Management (TEHO) of Košice, Zoltán Bartoš once mentioned the following issue as the operator of heat exchange units to TEHA: What will happen to them after renovation in the context of atomization and change of technologies? Hence, I expressed an opinion that there was probably no other kind of objects that have such great and regular location in housing units and were not so big that they would interest the developers. I was inspired by the idea presented in Banllieu 86 in Paris on reanimation of Parisian suburbs via crystallized points. Redefined, reinvented and reanimated cultural or nature points can reshuffle inner communication relationships and revive housing units. It is interesting that TEHO objects are formally called Warmth delivery stations (OST).

What was the concept of the project in its initial phase?
In the beginning, I proposed that the Faculty of Arts rent one heat exchange unit for a symbolic price as a 3D studio, where our students would carry out their half-term or final assignments, which could be exhibited in the surrounding area with an intent to return the sculpture into housing units.

The original idea on the heat exchange units gradually reshaped, fleshed out, changed…
The original model was extended and enhanced in the context of the European Capital of Culture project. The next step was defined to contain a group of modern dance to create a base for them – a small theater for cca 60-70 spectators. This concept extended the original model of a sculpture studio with a small stage theater of dance, which was a simple extension of what molded contemporary world culture.

Are you satisfied with the resulting idea of what should soon materialize in one of the Košice suburbs?
I think that all steps in this direction are correct. It is most important to make the first one.

The project of the heat exchange units has caught the attention in Slovakia, but also in other, international presentations of the project. Why?
Their design, location and the title inspire. They are an excellent opportunity to create a network made of small cells within the city that would enliven the life in housing units and articulate a new layer – grid of culture. At present, we are familiar with the housing estate grid of traffic, pedestrian scheme, business activities, and technical infrastructure…We define space in housing units through public transportation stops, names of shopping centers, names of pubs, schools. This step will make the existing regular structure of the heat exchange units visible.

Could one assume that the world is ruled by the trend to recycle even in architecture, instead of building new megalomaniac structures?
In urbanism and architecture, there are functions that demand space with history. Living in lofts, new art centers in old storage houses, heating plans, railway stations. These spaces are valued most nowadays. Instances of reviving docks, railway junctions, and military complexes, have turned into new city treasures in metropolises around the world.

What makes this project unique in your opinion?
Simplicity. It is cheap to carry out, and it does not make city space denser; quite on the contrary – it revives and activates. Most of all, it implies space, in which we live – meaning space that should feel close to us. One can paraphrase Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who thought that the magic of a house (housing estate) did not lie with its function to shelter and warm us up, nor that it had walls, but mostly with the fact that it gracefully stored fineness. Fundamental mission of culture is to create human folds filled with all those nuances and scents of fineness.

Can you picture the function of the heat exchange units in several years?
Modern life is defined by volatility of agenda, which is why time will probably reduce the notion of heat exchange units and culture in them. This however does not mean that we should not take this step. I am led to believe it, as the words of the American philosopher of Thomas Samuel Kuhn would also support: “All our past perceptions of the world proved erroneous; therefore there is no reason to believe our current ideas should meet a different fate.” Our past perceptions formed the culture of our world though. There is no reason to believe that our current ideas would not turn out to do the same.

What other objects in Košice, which are currently abandoned could be used in a similar fashion ?
We could transform all locked-up buildings hidden behind run-down walls.

Are you proud of your students who have taken up the project of the heat exchange units?
Each teacher wants to be delighted with his or her students. I teach because I believe that this joy will not pass me by.

zuzana.lehotska@kosice13.sk