There is no real need to build new buildings. 

With so many unused and abandoned buildings, why are we still building new ones? Today, there is an abundance of buildings including factories, houses, incomplete construction sites, stores, and ghost towns available to be readapted. Adaptive reuse is better for the environment, is an answer to poor living conditions and is an interesting design challenge for architects.

The environmental and economic benefits of repurposing abandoned buildings are abundant. For one, there is less use of material throughout the project, as the skin and structure of the building already exists. This also allows for less demolition, material, construction time, and heavy-duty construction, reducing both costs and emissions into the atmosphere. Demolishing buildings creates an incredible amount of waste while also polluting the air with asbestos and releasing emissions into the atmosphere. Also, the energy and cost of shipping large, structural materials would be drastically reduced.

Cities such as Buffalo, NY, where a significant portion of housing is available to be reused, but it is not being utilized. While Buffalo is trying to solve this problem by selling old houses for one dollar with the understanding that they will be renovated, not many people are taking them up on their offer. We believe there need to be more policies in place to attract people to live in these areas like this. Places like this could also be an opportunity to positively affect homelessness and poor living conditions. With so many houses not being used, it only makes sense adapt them for the homeless and the needy.

It may sound easier for architects to chose to demolish and create their own design on an empty site. However, using abandoned or existing buildings creates interesting, compelling design challenges for architects. This kind of constraint will allow designers to create new innovations and solve the issue of respecting the history of the site. Architects give these buildings new life, new meaning, and new function while clearly respecting what went on before their project. This helps a design blend into the language of its surroundings while  still doing something new. This kind of work would not merely be renovation, the entire purpose of the building would be redefined to become whatever our society needs most.

In the end, there are more than enough buildings already existing today to fulfill our needs. We just need to utilize what we already have and stop wasting materials and money creating new buildings.

We are interested in this topic because it is the direction we see our lives heading to in the future. We do not see the point of demolishing a building that could serve the same function of a new one. The preexisting one could serve as a building block that many people ignore and decide not to use.  Building sustainably is such a no-brainer to this generation that adaptive reuse makes too much sense to us. Because of this, we respect reused buildings more than new ones.

Sources 

Environmental Impact of Demolition Waste – an overview of 10 years of research and experience (Josef O.V. Tränkler, Isa Walker, Max Dohmann. Feb. 1999)

Homelessness and the Low-Income Housing Supply. (Wright, James D.; Lam, Julie A. Social Policy, v17 n4 p48-53 Spr 1987)

Adaptive reuse and sustainability of commercial buildings (Peter A. Bullen, (2007), Facilities, Vol. 25 Iss: 1/2, pp.20 – 31)

Housing and Sustainability: Demolition or Refurbishment (Proceedings of the ICE – Urban Design and Planning, Volume 163, Issue 4, 01 December 2010)

Does demolition or refurbishment of old and inefficient homes help to increase our environmental, social and economic viability (Anne Power 2008)

EMPTY HOUSING SPACE: AN OVERLOOKED RESOURCE (William C. Baer, 1979)

Periodical Name: Blueprint