magazin
link for full thesis
Überlagerung
Vacancy, appropriation und transformation in silesia
Masterthesis
Vacancy, appropriation und transformation in silesia
Masterthesis
6th semester M.Sc
Summer semester 2025
Summer semester 2025
Leibniz University Hanover
Faculty of Architecture and Landscape
Chair for Regional Building and Urban Planning
Institute of Urban Design and Planning
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Univ. Jörg Schröder
Riccarda Cappeller MSc MA
Faculty of Architecture and Landscape
Chair for Regional Building and Urban Planning
Institute of Urban Design and Planning
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Univ. Jörg Schröder
Riccarda Cappeller MSc MA
My master thesis is dedicated to the layered spatial, historical, and cultural conditions of postwar Silesia. Titled Überlagerung, it explores how vacancy and structural change, shaped by displacement and resettlement after 1945, have left lasting imprints on the region. Focusing on Głuszyca, a small town in Lower Silesia, I investigated vacant structures and developed strategies for their reactivation. The thesis unfolds in six conceptual steps: Status Quo, Impulse, Activation, Resonance, Anchoring, and Consolidation. These stages guide a process-oriented approach to transforming vacancy into spaces of engagement. The methods include historical layering, site-specific mapping, spatial narratives, theoretical framing, and design-based research. Together, they form a toolbox for reinterpreting underused spaces as sites of memory, participation, and future potential. The accompanying magazine brings together architectural, urbanistic, and cultural perspectives to envision how layered spaces can become shared spaces again, through appropriation, transformation, and care.
concept
The concept Overlayers for activating Głuszyca and its vacant structures combines spatial, social, and cultural interventions. Transformation is understood as an open, multilayered process structured into six interconnected phases – from sensitive observation to long-term consolidation. These phases are not linear but modular, allowing repetition, overlap, and adaptation across different scales and timeframes.
Starting from the status quo – a dormant space full of potential – impulses emerge through walks and conversations that open new perspectives. Vacancies are activated through temporary interventions, made visible and publicly discussed. The Palimfestival creates a resonance space where streets become stage, archive, and meeting ground. Temporary formats evolve into lasting uses, sustained by local initiatives, while consolidation expands the process to the regional level.
What matters is not sequence but interplay: temporary, permanent, and repeatable formats coexist, forming a process-oriented toolset for addressing vacancy and unlocking local potential.
status quo
“Vacancy and hidden history in a state of suspension – revealed through sensitive analysis.”
Format: Research materials on transparent rolls
Format: Research materials on transparent rolls
impulse
“Walks and conversations open new perspectives on the place.”
Format: Fold-out map with routes, dates, and annotations (link to map)
Format: Fold-out map with routes, dates, and annotations (link to map)
aktivierung
“Temporary interventions make vacant spaces visible and open for debate.”
Format: Hand drawings and photo overlays
Format: Hand drawings and photo overlays
resonanzraum
“The festival condenses: streets become stage, archive, and meeting ground.”
Format: Scroll with festival street programm (link to scroll)
Format: Scroll with festival street programm (link to scroll)
verankerung
“Temporary uses evolve into lasting structures within the urban fabric.”
Format: Magazine Überlagerungen*
Format: Magazine Überlagerungen*
verstetigung
“The project expands to the region: temporary, permanent, and repeatable formats coexist.”
Format: Topographic model at scale 1:200,000
Format: Topographic model at scale 1:200,000