anti air-raid shelters

anti air-raidsheltersworkshop Venice9-13 September 2012

edited by Gaia Pigozzi, Arve Eiken Nytun, Elias Melvin Christiansen

REcall

Anti air-raid shelters

Docs REcall

REcall ConsortiumPOLIMI-Politecnico di Milano - Coordinator - (Italy)AAU-Aalborg University (Denmark)NTUN-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)UNEW-Newcastle University (United Kingdom)Fasltad Museum, Falstad (Norway)Museo della Resistenza, Turin (Italy)

Associated PartnersErgan FoundationRomsdal museetRoutes AgencySnark

Issued in November 2012 under Creative Commons: license CC BY SA 3.0

The views expressed in this docu-ment are the sole responsibility of the authors and the European Com-mission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7) focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envi-sion new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it).

Anti air-raid

shelters

edited by Toby Phips Lloyd, Claudia Toscano, Mads Harder

Daniel

Docs REcall

Every object or structure made by man is a part of our material culture. These objects or structures provide important information for our understanding of technologies, economies, ritual practices and social organization of our human past. This is not only the case for ancient history, but also for our more recent historical remains such as the material culture from World War 2. This material culture provides us with information about the resources used in the building process and the relationship between material culture and human behaviour.

Venice was never actually bombed, but the anti raid shelters were still an important element of security for the citizens in case of a attack. They were built of poor concrete made of small stones, bricks and wood. Another aspect which is peculiar to Venice is that the shelters were built above ground. This makes the few that are left visible in the landscape.

The Air Raid Shelters in Venice (and in other parts of Europe) can give us useful information and evoke memories on subjects already forgotten, as this information and knowledge disappears every day. The contrast between the classical architecture in Venice and the remains from these military constructions is overwhelming. Being aware of these historical remains we are also able to communicate and reflecting about an important part of human history.

Our goal is to gain attention to theses buildings so that they can be re-discovered and hopefully reflected on, not just as old irrelevant buildings falling apart, but as memory of a turbulent and difficult time in European history.

Provided material: http://www.recall-project.polimi.it/wp-content/uploads/4_air-raid_shelter.zip

THE STORY

Since it`s not possible to build underground shelters in Venice, people had to construct their own shelters above ground during WW2. Some of these shelters was destroyed after the war and don`t exist today. Still, there are some of them left, as a testimony of war and stressful times in the beautiful city of Venice.Our goal was to find a way to make these shelters “active” again by disseminate the history, feelings and distinctiveness about them. We wanted to bring back attention to these shelters and try to communicate their importance with people in Venice.

By gaining attention to the air raid shelters, we decided to make an internet-community where people could interact with eachother and upload their knowledge about shelters they already knew about. If they didn’t have any experience and knowledge about shelters, we could also provide them with both, by instructing them to interact and participate. In the long run this could also escalate to something like a worldwide “flash mob”.

We made a website where people could upload pictures, videos and memory about air raid shelters in their era, and where they could participate in the registration of unknown and known shelters. On the website we also made it possible to discuss and share memory about the shelters.

By handing out flyers and promoting the air raid shelters we gained interest in our project. On the flyers we provided general information about the air-raid shelters together with a QR code that people could scan with their IPhones or Android phones. By scanning the code they could download two distinctive sounds. One of bomb falling, and the other a sound of the characteristic air raid alarm. Through the flyers people was instructed to locate the shelters and instructed to play the sounds as they were filming themselves together with the WW2 constructions. By doing this we in a way contextualised their experience with the element of sound, history, the material culture and the modern day landscape. These videos could be uploaded to our website for the entire world to see and an inspiration for others to do the same.

The project, website community and involvement is a positive way of gaining attention. This is fun and entertaining, but it also spread important information about the shelters and WW2 in general.

See the presentation: http://issuu.com/recall-project/docs/presentation_air-raid/1?mode=embed&viewMode=magazine

METHODOLOGY

PROJECT

LINKSUPLOADHOW TO STARTBLOGSITES

CITTADINI! RISPETTATE E FATE RISPETTARE I RICOVERICITIZENS! YOU MUST TAKE CARE OF THE SHELTERS

HOME

Many air-raid shelters from WWII still exist, scattered across Europe. However they are disappearing rapidly, reappropriated, forgotten, and demolished. Recall Air Shelter aims to preserve this unique heritage by creating an interactive research network, powered by public involvement.

The catalyst for the project is the Anti-raid shelter on Giudecca Island, Venice. Build to protect factory workers and their children, it now lies derelict on the edge of a modern housing complex.

In floating Venice shelters had to be necessary above ground, requiring a particular design and construction, often made in a hurry and with very poor materials. The urban center of Venice was however, never actually bombed, but the presence of these structures remind people of this turbulent time in venician history.

With your help, Recall Air-Shelter will build a register of the sites of WW2 air-raid shelters across Europe creating a useful research facility on the cultural landscapes of WWII, preserving this fragile heritage and generating a new culture awareness.

This is a dynamic research process where we ask you to visit any air-raid shelter that you may know of, perhaps on your own, or preferably in a group and perform a sound installation which you video record using your phone and send to us. Go to the App link and download the characteristic soundtracks. Take this with you to the site, create your own evocative sound event and by uploading onto the Blog you can share it with the world!

Recall Air-Shelter

Homepagehttp://www.recallairshelter.com

REcall air-shelter home site

CITIZENS! YOU MUST TAKE CARE OF THE SHELTERS

SITES LINKSUPLOADHOME BLOG

CITTADINI! RISPETTATE E FATE RISPETTARE I RICOVERI

HOW TO START

1. Download sound effects onto your mobile phone2. Identify and go to your site3. Play the sound effects while filming the site/air-raid shelter4. Upload the short video (max. 2 min.) onto the Recall Air-Shelter Blog Site5. Fill in the questionnaire

The more people who participate each time, the more effective is the experience.

How to start

Download

Bomb droppingAir-raid sirene

Your video and the information you provide, is essential to create the Recall Air-Shelter Database.

http://www.recallairshelter.com

REcall air-shelter site_instructions

LINKSUPLOADHOW TO START


SITESHOME BLOG

The Materiality of Anti Raid Shelters

Every object or structure made by man is a part of our material culture. These objects or structures provide important information for out understanding of technologies, economies, ritual practices and social organization of human past. This is not only the case for ancient history, but also for our recent historical remains, like material culture from World War 2. This material culture provides us with information about the resources used in the building process and the relationship between material culture and human behaviour.

Venice was never actually bombed, but the anti raid shelters was still an important element of security for the citizens in case of a attack. They were built by poor concrete made of smal stones, bricks and wood. Another aspect which is special for Venice is that the shelters are build above ground. This makes the fue of them which we have left visible in the landscape.

The Air Raid Shelters in Venice (and in other parts of Europe) can give us useful information and evoke memories on subjects already forgotten, as this information and knowledge disappears every day. The contrast between the classical architecture in Venice and the remains from these military constructions is overwhelming. Being aware of these historical remains we are also able to communicate and reflecting about an important part of human history.

By Arve Nytun


REcall air-shelter site_blog

HOW TO STARTBLOGSITES


HOME UPLOAD

UploadUploading a new air-raid shelter Adding media to a current shelter

Location

Year buildSizeMaterialCharacteristics

StoryFunction (Past / Present)


REcall air-shelter site_upload

LINKSUPLOADHOW TO STARTBLOGHOME



SITES

SitesClick on the blue circles to see information and videos from other contributers about the air-raid shelters.


REcall air-shelter home_map Europe



UPLOADHOW TO STARTBLOGHOME SITES



REcall air-shelter site_map Italy

LINKSBLOG HOW TO START UPLOAD


HOME SITES


REcall air-shelter home_map Venice


LINKSUPLOADHOW TO STARTBLOGHOME



SITES

Giudecca, VeniceCampo Junghans

Built in 1941

3 metres high

Never used

L-shaped, 36 x 22 x 5 metres long

Built for the Junghans’ fuse factory workers and their families

The air-raid shelter in Campo Junghans, Giudecca Island, Venice was built in 1941 as part of the National defense of “threat from the air”. There was a National Union for Anti-aircraft Protection (UNPA) from the 1930’s with laws and regulations on air-raid shelters provided detailed descriptions of how they had to be built, the materials to be used, and on the safety equipment that was required inside them. However it was not until December 1940 when the German Ministry of War issued Regulations on shelters that many of these shelters began to be built. Therefore the campo Junghans shelter was one of the first to be built under the German occupation.

REcall air-shelter site_Giudecca air-raid shelter


REcall docs – anti air-raid sheltersPublished by Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Progettazione dell’Architettura© May 2013, The Authors

anti air-raid shelters

REcall is a research project founded by EC Cul-ture 2007-13 Programme focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemora-tion attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it).

editorsGiada Pigozzi’s argument of the thesis for her bachelor degree consisted on the design of a fortified city from a urban point of view. She worked on the reorganization of the pedestrian and cycle-pedestrian to redevelop public open spaces. practice examines interpretations of the self and the relationship it has with the surrounding environ-ment.

Arve Eiken Nytun has lived in Trondheim since 2005 and studied history and archaeology. At the moment he is working on completing his master’s thesis on archaeol-ogy, where he writes a critical analysis about the pre Ref-ormation warning beacon system in Scandinavia.

Elias Melvin Christiansen is 23 years old and has been studying civil engineering with specialisation in architec-ture at Aalborg University since 2008.

REcall is a research project funded by EC Cluture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7)

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