Acta Technica Napocensis: Civil Engineering & Architecture Vol. 58, No. 4 (2015) Journal homepage: http://constructii.utcluj.ro/ActaCivilEng Special Issue– International Workshop in Architecture and Urban Planning Sustainable Development and the Built Environment Recovering the Memory: Conversion within the Context Lect. PhD. Arch. Andrei Eugen Lakatos aelakatos@yahoo.com “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest, Romania (Published online 28 February 2016) Abstract Industrialization, followed by deindustrialization, has written and rewritten vast territories, towns, and even human lives. The industrial heritage of cultural, architectural, or historic value has also a contemporary usage value, which makes it eligible for undergoing rehabilitation and conversion. In architecture, the conversion of a building could be understood as a change of its content (or function) without the change of its form. By understanding conversion as a path that goes beyond form and connects the initial function of the building with the newly given one, involves the idea that conversion it is not a complete removal of the former function (and memory), but as continual writing that overlaps the previously existing object. Thus, conversion is seen as some natural transformation process of a building, a stage within its evolution. Conversion is a process of change that calls for preservation and continuity; this change that should take into account the building memory, which has to be identified, protected and enhanced for the sake of present and future. Romania’s industrial heritage finds itself in a critical condition; one important dysfunction of Romania’s cities is the industrial spaces inserted as relics within the residential neighbourhoods. Some timid yet welcome actions of some private investors have been made into pilot conversion projects of industrial structures into cultural spaces. In Cluj-Napoca, not far from the city center, close to the industrial zone, the former “Brush Factory”, a building that contains both a real contemporary use and emotional value, has become a creation space for contemporary art. The industrial buildings are cultural, social, and economic assets that might be used today, and their integration within the cities’ daily life by their reuse and adaptation to new functions contribute to the enhancement of the place and, last but not least, to the preservation of society’s memory and identity. Rezumat Procesul industrializării, iar mai apoi dezindustrializarea, sunt fenomene ce au scris şi rescris teritorii, oraşe, vieţi. Patrimoniul industrial cu valoare cultural, arhitecturală sau istorică, are de asemenea şi o valoare de utilizare contemporană, fapt ce îl face să fie adecvat în vederea reabilitării şi conversiei. În arhitectură, conversia unei clădiri poate fi înţeleasă ca o transformare, adică ca o schimbare a conţinutului (sau a funcţiunii), fără schimbarea formei. Înţelegerea conversiei ca un traseu ce trece dincolo de formă şi face legătură între funcţiunea iniţială a clădirii şi cea nou atribuită, implică ideea că procesul conversiei nu este o schimbare completă a vechii funcţiuni (şi memorii), ci o scriere continuă ce se suprapune peste obiectul anterior existent. Aşadar, conversia este înţeleasă ca un proces natural de transformare a clădirii, o etapă în cadrul evoluţiei sale. Conversia este un proces care implică păstrare şi continuitate, şi care ar trebui să ţină cont de memoria clădirii, ce trebuie identificată, protejată şi valorificată spre folosul prezentului şi al viitorului. Patrimoniu industrial din România se află într-o situaţie critică; o