What Is Adaptive Reuse?
How Old Buildings Can Meet New Needs
Frothy Monkey Nations, Nashville, TN
You may not be familiar with the term “adaptive reuse,” but you have most likely experienced buildings that have been adapted.
From a coffee shop housed in a former factory to a hotel created from a historic office building, adaptive reuse is being put into action all around you. It is a way to give new life to abandoned, aging buildings.
A way to create the future with the past.
What Is Adaptive Reuse?
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of taking an existing structure and updating or adapting it for a purpose other than its original intended use. For example, converting a historic lighthouse into a museum or an old church into a concert venue.
Adaptive reuse often comes into play when a building’s original purpose becomes obsolete. For example, a corporation moves out of a region, leaving empty factories and warehouses, or a business like a movie theater shuts down after being superseded by streaming devices. Changes in the economy affect the viability of architectural structures. When a business closes, its buildings are often left sitting empty and abandoned until given a new purpose.
Adaptive reuse is related to, yet different from, historic preservation and historic restoration. To learn more about these approaches to historic properties, check out our blog on the Four Ways to Repair Historic Building Damage. Historic preservation and restoration projects often involve restoring a historic building element or returning a historic building to its original condition and use.
While adaptive reuse similarly seeks to restore a historic building to function, it often involves updates and redesigns that allow the historic building to function in an entirely new way. A commercial kitchen may be added, or the aesthetic of the building may be adapted to fuse a company’s brand with the original historic architecture.
Adaptive reuse may involve elements of historic preservation and restoration but cannot be classified as a preservation or restoration effort as a whole. Rather than returning a historic building to its original condition, adaptive reuse seeks to evolve buildings to meet communities’ current needs.
Top Six Benefits of Reusing Old Buildings
Adaptive reuse can offer many benefits including:
Protects cultural heritage.
Adaptive reuse can protect historic properties and landmarks from being demolished by giving them a purpose. Otherwise, those properties would likely be left to decay or flatlined to make room for parking lots and new buildings.
Enhances a community’s architectural character.
Every adaptive reuse building is unique. When handled thoughtfully, a building’s unique historic character can be preserved while infusing it with an owner or tenant’s own personality and branding. The end result is a building which offers a one-of-a-kind, character-rich aesthetic. This aesthetic in turn bolsters the architectural character of its neighborhood and creates a sense of place.
Central site location.
Often historic buildings are located at the center of communities, having perhaps been among a community’s founding structures or built when cities were more centralized to downtown. These sites can often offer clients prime positioning in downtown districts.
Financial advantages.
When compared with traditional building projects, adaptive reuse typically uses more labor than materials during the construction process. While material costs are skyrocketing, labor cost increases have been significantly more controlled in comparison. Demolition expenses are also avoided with adaptive reuse projects which can otherwise be a significant portion of a construction budget. Local and federal historic tax credits may also be available for adaptive reuse projects.
Faster construction schedule.
Constructing a new building takes significantly longer than renovating an existing building. Additionally, spaces in an older building may require only minimal renovation, allowing owners to phase construction—opening portions of the building for business while remaining construction continues. This means businesses can hit the ground running and start generating income faster.
Sustainable building practices.
Rather than creating new demolition and construction waste, adaptive reuse allows you to save a building from entering the landfills. With the demand for growth in many cities, adaptive reuse is a valuable alternative to urban sprawl.
As 2018 American Institute of Architects President Carl Elefante famously said, “The greenest building is one that is already built.”
Adaptive reuse can also reduce the amount of energy and materials used and wasted during the construction process. A study from the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction found that building construction and operations accounted for the largest share of both global final energy use (36%) and energy-related CO2 emissions (39%).
Is Adaptive Reuse Right for You?
The four questions you need to answer before starting any adaptive reuse project are:
What building are you wanting to adapt?
What new purpose do you want that building to serve?
Will the building’s new purpose be of value and interest to your community?
Can your chosen building be adapted to serve that new purpose well?
An architect can help you answer these questions by conducting a feasibility study and property conditions assessment of your selected site.
This assessment will help you understand the limitations and opportunities within your building, any immediate red flags (like zoning or structural issues), any forecasted challenges (like environmental issues), and more. Ultimately, the findings of the assessment will equip you with information to determine if your chosen property can feasibly be adapted to fulfill your vision.
Feasibility studies can also be helpful in creating initial project budget and schedule projections.
To better understand if your building’s community is a good fit for your intended purpose, it is also helpful to assess the neighborhood’s car and pedestrian traffic patterns, parking options, and the surrounding homes and businesses.
Once you determine your project is ready to go, your architectural partner can then help you bring your vision to life.
What It Looks Like to Work with an Architect
Assess
When you first engage an architect, they will walk through your site with you. They will want to understand what you see in the building, your vision, and your needs. If you have conducted a feasibility study with your architect, this step may have already been achieved.
With historic buildings, architects will also want to review any available historic documentation.
The goal during this assessment stage is to research and understand everything possible about the building, the vision, the end users, and the end needs.
Design
You and other key project stakeholders will then sit down with the architect to create a program that works within your building.
An architectural program is a document that outlines the goals of the project, design criteria, and performance requirements. The program is meant to guide the project’s design direction and filter all related decisions. In one sense, it functions like the rudder of a ship, steering the project’s design according to the team’s agreed upon guidelines.
“When creating a program for a historic building, both owner and architect should be sensitive to its existing bones and character,” said GHP’s Vice President of Design Thom Meek, AIA. “Find ways to breathe new life into the structure while protecting its historic roots. Losing that uniqueness is losing the heart of the building.”
The design team will then begin creating the design according to the program.
They will initially provide you a schematic design which may include bubble diagrams. These bubble diagrams will give you an overall sense of the space layout and flow.
Your feedback will be incorporated into the designs which will then be developed into more detailed floorplans. During this process, the architectural team will work with engineering partners to determine how mechanical, electrical, structural, and other technical systems will be upgraded and incorporated into the design.
After the design is approved and finalized, the architect will create construction documents. These construction documents explain the project’s design intent to the construction team, as well as define acceptable quality. The documents can then be submitted for issuance of building permits and to support General Contractor bidding.
During the construction documents stage, the architect will also work with local historic commissions and agencies to incorporate any design input based on their historic building expertise.
Construct
The architect can help you bid General Contractors if desired. Once a General Contractor is selected, the contractor and their crew assume control of the project like a film director taking over a screenwriter's script.
The architect will move into an administrative role—conducting periodic progress meetings and site checks to ensure construction follows the approved designs.
Additionally, based on historic research and collaboration with historic commissions, the architectural team can help the construction team be aware of how to respectfully handle, clean, and renovate the historic structure.
Deliver
Once construction is complete, the architect will conduct a final walk through of the finished site and note any issues. Any findings and a copy of the approved floor plan will be provided to you. GHP also often conducts a one-year post-occupancy to ensure the design and the building are functioning as intended.
What to Keep in Mind When Renovating a Historic Building
Renovating a historic building requires special care and consideration. Some of the top things to keep in mind when working with a historic building are:
Building Codes Compliance in a Historic Building
Building codes can often be the biggest hurdle when converting an old building to new use.
Historic buildings were not typically designed with modern safety requirements in mind or to accommodate people with disabilities.
To meet modern building codes, an architect may need to redesign the elevations of the space to slope more gradually, incorporate more accessible fixtures, or more. However, the challenge is not necessarily achieving compliance but doing so in a way that does not detract from the historic feel of the space or the adapted brand experience.
Additionally, many historic buildings must be altered to accommodate modern technology needs such as Wi-Fi and audiovisual technology. The electrical, mechanical, and HVAC systems will also typically need updating or replacing.
In new construction projects, these technical set ups are easy to access as ceilings and other barriers are left open for updates and installations. In historic buildings, architectural and engineering teams instead find creative ways to gently work around the existing bones of a building to access these technical systems.
Architectural partners can also help you work with local historic and buildings codes authorities to determine any codes exemptions for historic buildings. Sometimes, as an incentive for adaptive reuse and historic preservation, officials will waive select building code variances, loading or parking requirements, or energy efficiency requirements.
Working with Historic Building Materials
When working with historic buildings, you may encounter materials and building practices that are no longer used today. Architects and engineers can help you determine if outdated materials and building systems need to be replaced or can continue to be utilized.
For example, when working on an adaptive reuse project in a historic hotel, GHP’s team encountered a historic structural technique utilizing copper and masonry that is no longer in effect. Upon analysis, the team determined that, while outdated, it was still structurally sound. Removing or replacing the material would have been more hazardous than working around it.
The key is to approach historic buildings gently and thoughtfully.
“Historic buildings are extremely sensitive,” said GHP’s Vice President of Design Thom Meek, AIA. “Any movement in a historic wall, column, or other building element will deteriorate the existing structure—and ultimately deteriorate its historic character.”
Historic Building Envelopes
In line with gently handling historic building materials, a historic building’s envelope should be handled just as gently.
A building’s envelope is commonly defined as the barrier between a building’s exterior and interior spaces. An envelope’s primary purpose is to limit water, air, heat, light, and noise from entering the inside of the building.
The envelopes of historic buildings can be in a variety of conditions. Some building envelopes have successfully functioned for many years and just need to be protected during renovation. Whereas some envelopes may need extensive repair or even replacement.
An architect can conduct a forensic assessment of the envelope and determine the right approach for your building’s envelope.
Environmental Issues in Historic Buildings
When working with historic buildings, you need to assume you are working with hazardous materials. Asbestos, lead-based paint, mold, and radon are examples of hazardous substances that can be found in many historic buildings.
Before cutting into any walls and starting any construction, a historic building should be assessed by environmental professionals to determine if there are any “hot spots.” These professionals will take samples that will be analyzed by a lab. Results will confirm the presence of hazardous materials, and the environmental team can aid you in removing or managing the substances.
Skipping this step could put your team and building occupants at risk of these often-hidden hazards.
Your Space Leads Your Design
When adapting a historic building, the goal is to work within the existing footprint of the building. Often, visions can expand beyond the capacity of an existing building. Rather than building outside the existing structure, the key is to innovate within it.
Determine the core parts of your vision that cannot be sacrificed. An architect can then work with you to explore how to bring those tenets of your vision to life within the existing framework of the building.
Historic architecture often requires more creative, problem-solving design than would a new construction project.
“People will often have a vision that exceeds their historic space,” said GHP’s Vice President of Design Thom Meek, AIA. “It is important to tailor your design to your space rather than try to tailor your space to your design. If you have a historic building, embrace it, respect it, and let it lead your vision. What may seem like limitations in the space are often opportunities.”
Want to Talk about Your Vision?
If you have an idea for an adaptive reuse project, GHP’s architects are ready to help you explore options and create a path to achieve your vision.
Reach out to Hello@ghp1.com to start a conversation!