Key Takeaways:
- Older buildings that have outlived the design function can be rebuilt and made fresh through adaptive reuse.
- Adaptive reuse projects for buildings fall into one of five categories: renovation, facadism, integration, preservation, and infrastructural.
- Adaptive reuse supports waste reduction, resource conservation, and cheaper construction costs.
A historic stone mill revived as mixed-income housing, and a furniture store converted into a health center gave these older buildings a new purpose. These BUILDINGS stories highlight adaptive reuse projects that transformed a building that had outlived its original design function into usable space again.
What is Adaptive Reuse?
Adaptive Reuse is a term from the 1970s that describes the process of refurbishing buildings for use beyond their original purpose. Within the built environment, adaptive reuse makes new older construction that would otherwise outlive its intended use.
One of the earliest examples of adaptive reuse in America was the conversion of Old City Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. Starting in 1969, the three-year project transformed City Hall into a restaurant and first-class office building. The successful adaptive reuse project was publicized by the American Institute of Architects and served as a model of “successful redevelopment for underutilized municipal property.”
In the late 2010s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared adaptive reuse a necessary environmental step for buildings, aiming to reduce construction emissions and mitigate anthropogenic effects on climate change. The embodied carbon created from new construction between 2020 and 2050 will make up roughly half of all carbon emissions.
What’s the Difference Between Adaptive Reuse and Retrofitting?
While adaptive reuse and retrofitting have sustainability pros, both have distinct focuses of environmental gain. Adaptive reuse focuses on updates and upgrades to a structure for new use other than why it was originally constructed, whereas retrofitting optimizes a building’s efficiency, consumption, and waste usage, separate from the building itself. Adaptive reuse can include retrofitting steps, but the focus is on making the structure fulfill current usage needs. Adaptive reuse and retrofitting are alternatives to demolition, giving the building and its systems an update to meet current standards, regulations, and occupancy use.
Are There Different Types of Adaptive Reuse?
There are five main subcategories of adaptive reuse projects: renovation, facadism, integration, preservation, and infrastructural.
1. Renovation
Historic buildings that are in poor condition can be renovated. This well-known type of adaptive reuse maintains the structure and appearance of the building while adding modern improvements to make the space usable. The minimal changes to the exterior and refurbishment of the interior allow for the preservation of a building while making it meet the current needs of its occupants.
2. Facadism
Facadism, or facadectomy, involves the preservation of the building’s front or exterior but allows for interior reconstruction. Buildings with little historical significance or with interior dilapidation can use facadism to rebuild the interior structure, which can reduce the carbon emissions from constructing a new building and demolishing a usable structure.
3. Integration
A new building is constructed around or attached to the existing structure to allow for the original building to be maintained but still be modernized when taking an integrative adaptive reuse approach. The original building can still be used for its intended use.
4. Preservation
Preservation is a comprehensive adaptive reuse tactic where the building’s materials, facade, integrity, and structure are maintained with minimal updates for modernization. This subcategory is also referred to as heritage conservation, as the goal is to preserve and restore a building’s historic significance while updating systems to meet code and efficiency standards.
5. Infrastructural
In addition to updates to buildings, infrastructural adaptive reuse is applied to bridges, grain silos, viaducts, railways, highways, industrial plants, and hangars.
Examples of Adaptive Reuse
For applications of adaptive reuse in the built environment, read these BUILDINGS stories.
How This Adaptive Reuse Project Addresses Community Health Gaps
Historic Stone Mill Revived as Sustainable, Mixed-Income Housing in Lawrence, MA
