From a hydroelectric power centre to an arts centre: the regeneration of the Fies hydroelectric power station in the Sarca valley

Many production buildings have been abandoned; few have had a new life after being closed down. Industrial buildings are abandoned for many reasons. These are sometimes related to the specific sector: for example, economic and production transformation or a decline in the quantity of materials etc., and sometimes they are specifically related to the building itself — to its technical life cycle — but also related to general factors tied to changes in policy, for example, a different use of the water supply or environmental factors. For some disused industrial buildings, sustainable regeneration projects have been proposed and implemented by interpreting and recovering the value of the memory of the work, the architecture and the technology. We thought it would be interesting to analyse the renovation of the Fies hydroelectric power station located on the right bank of the Sarca river (Trento), which today is a space for the creation and production of contemporary arts.