Types of Adaptive Reuse
Adaptive reuse breathes new life into historic places and vacant buildings, transforming them into homes, offices, hotels, and more. This can be achieved through a variety of approaches:
Historic Preservation
Both adaptive reuse and historic preservation aim to save historic buildings. However, adaptive reuse repurposes existing structures for new uses, often seen as a compromise between preservation and demolition. Historic preservation, on the other hand, focuses on sustaining a building's existing form, integrity, and materials. While exterior additions and alterations are not part of this approach, minimally invasive upgrades to meet new building codes (MEP – mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) are typically allowed according to the National Park Service, which administers the National Register of Historic Places.
A key benefit of adaptive reuse over historic preservation is the flexibility to incorporate new, efficient architectural materials while still honoring the building's history. This improves performance and lowers the carbon footprint.
Renovation
Adaptive reuse involving renovation focuses on repairing and refinishing a building while preserving its original purpose.
Integration
Integration involves constructing a new structure around an existing building, essentially preserving the original structure within the new one.
Facadism
Facadism is the practice of preserving a building's facade while demolishing the rest and replacing it with a modern structure. This process, called facadectomy, maintains the streetscape view, but it's expensive due to the need to support and protect the (often fragile historical materials) facade during construction. While historic preservation advocates view facadism as a poor substitute, supporters consider it better than erasing a city's historical footprint altogether.
Infrastructure
While most adaptive reuse focuses on buildings, some innovative projects transform outdated or unused infrastructure into beloved community features.
A Real-World Example:
Schemmer's The Forge (Odd Fellows Building) Restoration and Renovation project in Jefferson, Iowa, designed by John Bloom, AIA, exemplifies adaptive reuse. The renovation followed the State Historical Preservation Office and National Park Service's guidelines. This adaptive reuse project involved a complete interior demolition and remodel, emphasizing key historical features like cast stone window arches, pressed-metal ceilings, and large wooden interior doorways. The facade received selective mortar repointing and brick replacement, followed by cleaning and sealing the masonry for waterproofing. Schemmer also assisted with state and federal historic tax credit applications.
"The interesting thing about this project was the introduction of hi-tech jobs being introduced to a rural community. What makes them economically possible is the federal and state tax credits," – John Bloom, AIA.
Learn More:
For more details on The Forge (Odd Fellows Building) Restoration and Renovation project, please refer to this separate blog post.
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