Architectural Reuse
C. Architectural Reuse
People are happiest in buildings where change occurs at every scale from weeks to centuries. Such buildings are fractals in time. —Stewart Brand
Architectural reuse processes include adaptive reuse, conservative disassembly, and reusing salvaged materials. This definition is broad and inclusive permitting many different interpretations; however, the underlying objective is that architectural reuse be understood as an evolutionary process occurring over time.
Figure 29: Adaptive reuse of an old railroad grain elevator into a mixed use garden store and residence: Stookey’s Feed and Garden, Moscow, Idaho
Unit C • Recycling and Reuse • 57
C.1.1 Discussion: Adaptive Reuse
Like ecological succession, adaptive reuse deals with directional change, a gentle and unpredictable temporal shift in the whole basis of the building’s structure and function: the succession of the built environment. Adaptive reuse “slows nutrient loss” while contributing to the diversity, complexity, and continuity of a particular place. Genuine places worthy of our affections are created through the process of adaptation. The Geography of Nowhere by James Kunstler presents a very readable argument for preventing the uncritical new construction of “placelessness.” According to Kunstler, The average citizen, who went to school in a building modeled on a shoe factory, who works in a suburban office park, who lives in a raised ranch house, who vacations in Las Vegas, would not recognize a building of quality if a tornado dropped it in his yard. But the professional architects, who ought to know better, have lost almost as much ability to discern the good from the bad, the human from the antihuman.1 Adaptive reuse is the process of changing a building’s function to accommodate the changing needs of its users. This phenomenon is examined in Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built (New York: Viking, 1994). This excellent book is a
People are happiest in buildings where change occurs at every scale from weeks to centuries. Such buildings are fractals in time. —Stewart Brand
Architectural reuse processes include adaptive reuse, conservative disassembly, and reusing salvaged materials. This definition is broad and inclusive permitting many different interpretations; however, the underlying objective is that architectural reuse be understood as an evolutionary process occurring over time.
Figure 29: Adaptive reuse of an old railroad grain elevator into a mixed use garden store and residence: Stookey’s Feed and Garden, Moscow, Idaho
Unit C • Recycling and Reuse • 57
C.1.1 Discussion: Adaptive Reuse
Like ecological succession, adaptive reuse deals with directional change, a gentle and unpredictable temporal shift in the whole basis of the building’s structure and function: the succession of the built environment. Adaptive reuse “slows nutrient loss” while contributing to the diversity, complexity, and continuity of a particular place. Genuine places worthy of our affections are created through the process of adaptation. The Geography of Nowhere by James Kunstler presents a very readable argument for preventing the uncritical new construction of “placelessness.” According to Kunstler, The average citizen, who went to school in a building modeled on a shoe factory, who works in a suburban office park, who lives in a raised ranch house, who vacations in Las Vegas, would not recognize a building of quality if a tornado dropped it in his yard. But the professional architects, who ought to know better, have lost almost as much ability to discern the good from the bad, the human from the antihuman.1 Adaptive reuse is the process of changing a building’s function to accommodate the changing needs of its users. This phenomenon is examined in Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built (New York: Viking, 1994). This excellent book is a