Adaptive reuse

The Bankside Power Station in London was converted for use as the Tate Gallery. Shown is the former turbine hall, converted to house exhibits.

Adaptive reuse is the process of adapting old structures for purposes other than those initially intended.

When the original use of a structure changes or is no longer required, as with older buildings from the industrial revolution, architects have the opportunity to change the primary function of the structure, while retaining some of the existing architectural details that make the building unique. In local communities, unused schools or Post Office buildings have been adapted for reuse as retail stores or offices. Adaptive reuse covers a wide range of urban areas and building types.

Adaptive reuse, along with brownfield reclamation, is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and reducing the amount of sprawl. For those who prescribe to the smart growth concept, it is more efficient and environmentally responsible to redevelop older buildings closer to urban cores than it is to build new construction on faraway greenfield sites. Adaptive reuse is also related to the field of historic preservation.

Examples

Americas

Pratt Street Power Plant in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, converted into retail, restaurants, and offices.

The Western Metal Building as seen during a game.

In Canada, especially in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, adaptive reuse has come to define the character of many neighbourhoods, and in two instances, creates neighbourhoods where none existed before. In Toronto, the Distillery District, a neighbourhood in the city's southeast side, was entirely adapted from the old Gooderham & Worts distillery. Other prominent re-uses include the Candy Factory on Queen Street West and the Toy Factory, in the city's Liberty Village district, both done by Quadrangle Architects, a firm specializing in adaptive re-use in Toronto and elsewhere. Vancouver's Yaletown, an upscale neighbourhood established in the 1990s, is almost entirely re-used warehouse and other small-industrial structures and spaces.

Ghirardelli Square in San Fransisco was the first major adaptive reuse project in the United States, opening in 1964. Urban waterfronts, historically used as points for industrial production and transport, are now selling-points for home buyers and renters. In American city neighborhoods that have seen racial and ethnic demographic changes over the last century, some houses of worship have been converted for other religions, and some others have been converted into residences.

A large number of brick mill buildings in the Northeast United States have undergone mill conversion projects. In the United States, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, loft housing is one prominent result of adaptive reuse projects. Formerly-industrial areas such as the Meatpacking District in New York City, Callowhill in Philadelphia and SoMa in San Francisco are being transformed into residential neighborhoods through this process. This transformation is sometimes associated with gentrification. Station Square in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is an example of a mile-long former Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad terminal and headquarters being converted into a retail, office, hotel, and tourist destination. The Pratt Street Power Plant in Baltimore was converted to offices, retail, and restaurants. Other museums adapted from old factories include "MassMOCA" - the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Center in Long Island, New York and Dia:Beacon - The Dia Art Foundation Museum in upstate New York.

In San Diego, California, the historic brick structure of the Western Metal Supply Co. building at 7th Avenue (between K and L Streets) was preserved and incorporated into the design of PETCO Park, the new baseball-only ballpark of the San Diego Padres, and can be prominently seen in the left-field corner of that ballpark. It now houses the team's flagship gift shop, luxury rental suites, a restaurant and rooftop bleachers, and its southeast corner serves as the ballpark's left field foul pole.

The Malthouse apartments in Richmond, Australia is a conversion of a former grain silo by Nonda Katsalidis.

Australia

In Australia, there has been a number of projects to convert old silos into residential apartments. Several cities including Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney, Bunbury, Geelong and Ballarat have such buildings and they have captured the public imagination with adaptive reuse. The adaptive reuse of silos as apartment is popular with developers as it is a cost-effective process, the buildings are already tall and difficult to demolish meaning that the planning permits can be easier to obtain and they have ready to use circular spaces with often uninterrupted views.

Europe

In Europe, buildings originally constructed as royal palaces are often reused as art museums; well-known examples of this being the Louvre in Paris, France, and the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.

The Tate Modern in London is an example of adaptive reuse at the urban scale - converting an old power plant along the River Thames into a Gallery of Modern Art - and also an example of urban renewal.

See also

• Architectural conservation
• Mill conversion

External references

• On Adaptive Reuse A blog, mostly architectural, but it also treats adaptive reuse as an approach to a wide range issues.
• "Adaptive Re-Use of Brownfields: A Challenge for the Valuation," John A. Kilpatrick
• Adaptive Reuse Photo Gallery Adaptive reuse building example and photo gallery