Adaptive Reuse

690 Words2 Pages

What is adaptive reuse?

“What we need is continuity . . . historic preservation is not sentimentality but a psychological necessity. We must learn to cherish history and to preserve worthy old buildings . . . we must learn how to preserve them, not as pathetic museum pieces, but by giving them new uses.”

Ada Louise Huxtable Lessons In Healing the City’s Scars

Adaptive reuse generally refers to the reuse of existing sites, buildings or structures for a purpose other than what they were originally designed or built for (Wikipedia. 2017). Adaptive reuse doesn’t always mean the building will have to have a significant change in the structure, façade/ and interior in order for it to be used for a distinctive practice, sometimes the only …show more content…

The new uses give it a new purpose or a function that is needed or could benefit the environment, through economic, social or cultural methods. An example of adaptive reuse of an old structure that benefits economically as well as keeping its social and cultural manner is the monumental grain silos in Akron, Ohio. The Quaker Oats Company built ‘36 grain silos in 1932, each silo was 120 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter, and together it housed 1,500,000 bushels of grain.’ (Wikipedia. 2017). After the production was terminated in Akron in 1970, the structures were given a new usage as it had an important significance to the city ‘downtown of Akron, Ohio, grew right around the grain silos’ (Brand, 1997), it was also a valuable building for the people as it had sentimental values, ‘people got used to seeing the structure and would have missed it if it was gone.’ (Brand, 1997). In 1980 the old concrete grain silos was converted into a hotel, as the downtown location was central enough to make the ‘bizarre idea into something economically attractive’ (Brand, 1997), Overall by giving the existing structure a new function has had less impact on the environment, the conversion has also helped economically while keeping its social and cultural

Open Document