7 Cool Examples of Adaptive Reuse
Reduce, reuse, recycle has been the watchword of the green movement for decades for a reason: Every time we work with something that already exists rather than creating something new, we’re conserving resources. Google just announced one such example, the conversion of an old coal-fired power plant to a data center that will use green technology. The company is following in the footsteps of the growing adaptive reuse trend, which takes old factories, hospitals and other buildings and breathes new life into them rather than allowing them to be destroyed or simply abandoning them.
All over the world, people are doing fascinating things with structures that previous generations might have left to rot.
1) From textiles to nonprofits
One of the most common examples of adaptive reuse is the conversion of former factories to business spaces, whether they’re broken up into units for rental or turned into large facilities for entire companies. In 2008, a group of Princeton students began working with Isles, a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization, to convert a former textile factory. The project was established as part of an environmental design course.
In this instance, the conversion was particularly apropos: Isles is a company focused on green initiatives, and they needed a facility that would accommodate a need for their training cafe as well as their training program for people interested in green collar jobs. The company put its money where its advocacy work is with not just a conversion, but an environmentally smart, energy efficient one.
2) From meatpacking to vertical farming
Chicago was once famous for its meatpacking industry, thanks to its position as a rail hub in the center of the Midwest. Changing times and sensibilities pushed slaughterhouses and meatpacking out of the city, leaving large industrial facilities behind. That’s where groups like The Plant stepped in. The organization took a building once owned by Peer Foods and converted it in what may be the ultimate beautiful example of creative reuse: From a slaughterhouse floor to a vegetarian paradise.
The Plant provides the city with a source of fresh food grown within city limits, and marks Chicago’s first vertical farm, an important pioneering effort to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the technology. With assistance from state grants and experts, the group works on a net-zero energy system, operating the facility with a series of creative and tight loops that keep energy within The Plant rather than allowing it to go to waste — for example, fish manure feeds plants and wind turbines furnish electricity for grow lights.
3) From candy to art lofts
A home at CAMPstreet Lofts in San Antonio will cost you, but a spot in the former candy factory might be worth it. The facility, founded by an artist with an interest in green development, includes a number of gorgeous condos, along with a parking lot converted into an art park, a cafe and lots of community spaces. The housing was specifically designed with green aesthetics in mind, keeping it energy efficient and promoting dense urban housing, addressing a key concern among many environmental organizations — when housing is tightly packed and paired with smart city planning, regions can prevent sprawl and promote slow growth that allows extant habitat to continue to thrive around urban areas.
4) From power station to…power station?
It’s iconic, and until 1983, it was a coal-fired power plant. After it was decommissioned, the beautiful brick building languished, until organizers decided to give it a chance to come into the 21st century. Battersea Power Station will be coming back online as a power plant, but this time, it’ll be producing green energy for London. The process of conversion is tricky, thanks to its status as a historic monument, but so far, it looks stunning.
That’s not all that’s happening on the grounds, however. Parts of the facility are being converted to parks, offices, apartments, live/work spaces and more. The developers plan to extend the plant’s connections with London, creating tube access, expanding a pathway along the Thames, and making it extremely easy for residents and employees alike to get there without ever having to set foot in a car — good thing, too, because owning or driving a car in London is a dicey proposition.
5) From brewery to contemporary museum
Visitors to Madrid may want to visit the Museo ABC, a fascinating contemporary museum with absolutely stunning architecture. That architecture was actually built on the bones of a preexisting building, an old brewery. The designers wanted to retain some of the core aspects of the building, including its heritage and history in a remodel that also explored the next generation of art and architecture. The building features a striking tessellated mosaic facade, dramatic interior spaces, and extensive room for display and restoration of art pieces.
With six stories of art, including pieces by a huge array of Spanish artists, there’s a great deal to enjoy in the creatively redesigned facility.
6) From house of worship to bookstore
Converted churches are a trend in adaptive reuse, and many are turned into private residences. Some, however, find a different lease on life, as in the case of a bookstore in the Netherlands nestled into a dramatic old church. The 700-year-old Dominican church makes for an absolutely stunning backdrop for books of all shapes and sizes. Visitors can also look up into the church’s restored interior, featuring a meticulously-restored ceiling and pillared arcades.
And yes, there are a number of nooks and crannies for those who like to curl up with a good book, along with a cafe. Notably, one of the biggest challenges in the design was the fact that churches tend to have a very small footprint, though they’re quite high. The architects recognized that trying to maximize floorspace in the conventional way would be a mistake, so they had to think creatively, and vertically, to create shelving and browsing space on multiple levels that climb the walls of the church.
7) From train depot to Italian restaurant
Visitors to the city of Fullerton who are feeling a hankering for some spaghetti can hit up the Old Spaghetti Factory, which took up residence in the former Union Pacific Depot. California, like many states, was forced to decommission a large number of railway stations after the slow decline of the Golden Age of Rail. Many of these stations are beautiful works of art, reflecting an era when even utilitarian buildings were meticulously and thoughtfully designed. This Mission Revival building was one such example until it was slated for the chopping block and restaurateurs jumped in to save it.
Preserving the endangered building didn’t just present the usual challenges involved in dealing with any historic building: The Union Pacific Depot actually had to be moved to another site first, and it didn’t go by train!
Adaptive reuse represents a fantastic opportunity for historic preservation, keeping old buildings alive and well, with new and creative uses. Often intrinsically green by way of reusing buildings instead of forcing companies to build brand new ones, it’s often done with explicit intentions of green design in mind. LEED certification is applied to some of these buildings, demonstrating just how green adaptive reuse can be.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
