There is no real need to build new buildings

Periodical Name: BLUEPRINT

• Introduction
  • 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, is an interesting design challenge for architects, and preserves the historical significance of existing structures.
• Environmental Benefits
  • Demolition & Construction Waste
    • Injures cities images and memories (Cerkez 94)
    • “Demolition waste is a major part of industrial waste. In general, demolition waste is heterogeneous and consists to a large extent of building materials but includes even small amounts of hazardous substances.” (Trankler 21)
    • “Current waste generation from the construction and demolition industry (C&D industry) in Norway is about 1.25 million tonnes per year.” (Bergsdal 27)
    • “A 2001 study of Norwegian waste treatment facilities reported that approximately 44% of C&D waste was sent to sorting, and of this 33% was materials recycled, 22% was energy recovered, and 34% was landfilled. The numbers do not include rocks, gravel, soil and the like. Furthermore, the results revealed that the treatment method for about 40% of C&D waste in Norway was unspecified. Some waste was sent directly to recycling companies, and therefore not registered in the statistics, and some waste was also disposed of illegally (Statistics Norway 2002).” (Bergsdal 28)
  • Shipping new materials
    • Depending on what is available locally, many materials need to be transported to the site. There is really no way to avoid this in general, but renovating rather than completely demolishing and creating a new building creates less need for new material.
      • “In 2013, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation accounted for about 27% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second largest contributor of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions after the Electricity sector.” (“Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”)
  • Renovation Construction is much more difficult than new construction.
    • Take into consideration the cost of transporting the demolition and construction waste to a recycling facility.
    • The longer period of demo and construction time creates a longer period for laborers to be in work.
    • This longer period also creates more emissions into the atmosphere due to equipment used during demolition and construction.
  • Rich Clients who don’t care about sustainability
    • Sustainability is the “new”, “cool” thing in architecture. Even though sustainable techniques have been around for almost two decades.
      • The client’s building will be judged based on how sustainable it is.
        • If it does not use sustainable techniques, the client will be ridiculed for ignoring the need for sustainable strategies in architecture and ignoring the need for taking care of our planet.
      • Sustainable technologies are considered advanced technologies in architecture.

• Economic Benefits
  • Less time under construction.
    • When demolition and construction are needed, a project will be under construction for a longer period of time.
      • labor costs. Approximately $35,000 salary per worker (47-2061 Construction Laborers)
    • There are certain historic rehabilitation tax credits offered to those who preserve the history of their site. This helps to offset the cost of renovation.
• Low income housing
  • About 200,000 rental housing units are destroyed annually. Renting is one of the most viable options for low income people (Joint Center for Housing Studies).
  • “Unable to afford the higher rents for newer suburban units, many lowest-income renters remain stuck in older, lower-quality apartments close to the urban core with limited access to well-paying jobs and other advancement opportunities. Without more production of affordable rentals in the suburbs and expanded community development efforts in center cities, the economic prospects of the nation’s most disadvantaged are certain to worsen.” (Joint Center for Housing Studies)
  • developers continue to focus on the high end housing market segment, ignoring the many renters who are unable to pay (Joint Center for Housing Studies)
  • Albeit challenging, adaptive reuse is an option for the shortage of low-income housing.
  • Adaptive reuse projects, because they are often sited in older neighborhoods or even historic districts, can situate residents much closer to centers of employment. (Schalmo 9)
  • Adaptive reuse projects usually are able to receive “low income housing tax credit” and/or “historic rehabilitation tax credit” to offset the cost of developing low income housing. (Schalmo 10)
• History Preservation/Respecting site
  • “When a building of historic merit is preserved or restored for adaptive reuse, its cultural energy is also recycled. Old buildings preserve the local culture and identity and create a sense of belonging. In a way, we recycle embodied human resource energy along with material energy. We bring alive the past to be a part of the future, creating valuable connections through time.” (Cerkez 94)
  • “Effective vernacular design requires consideration of the cultural and historical character of the places where buildings and other constructions occur…The distinctive identity of a place is affirmed by designing in relation to a place’s social and historical elements.” (Kellert, 165). The very nature of adaptive reuse lends itself to creating an environment that has a sense of place and history. Unlike new design, reuse projects don’t have to try and fit in- they are already part of the community.  
• Architectural design challenge
  • Using abandoned or existing buildings creates interesting, compelling design challenges for architects.
    • This constraint allows designers to create new innovations and solve problems while also respecting the history of the site.
    • Architects give these buildings new life, new meaning, and new function while respecting what went on before their project. Recycling the “cultural energy” of what was there before.
    • This allows design to 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.
  • Branded Buildings (such as CVS or McDonalds) do not have to be created completely new.
    • An example: A CVS that was a converted old movie theater. It kept the integrity of the old movie theater while also still having its brand. Located in the Palisades, Washington, D.C.

      

    • Demolishing a branded building such as a McDonald’s
      • Renovating would allow the business to stay open while renovations are being completed.
      • Less time under construction, rather than taking the time for demolition and the construction of an entire building.
    • Branding can be created while also respecting the history of a building.
      • Take the CVS occupying an old theater as an example.
      • Or take a larger example of the Bastard Store, designed by Studiometrico in Milan. The shopfront, offices, warehouse, and skate bowl are located within a 1950’s cinema. It stays true to as much of the cinema as was possible, but also reflects the brand’s gnarly attitude towards snowboarding. The juxtaposition of the prior program and the current program is an idea that can be appreciated and is much more complex than if they had torn down the cinema and built a new, sleek snowboarding headquarters.

        

• Conclusion
  • Sustainability is becoming more of a requirement than an option.
  • There is no need for new buildings because we can effectively reuse the buildings that we already have.
  • Adaptive reuse projects are a better solution than new building because of… [summarize main points]
• Architectural Examples:
  • 1. Residential
    • Grainger Place, 2000
    • The Landmark Group
    • Low income housing converted from an old school
    • won awards for historical preservation development
  • 2. Museum

    

    • Caixia Forum, Madrid, 2007
    • Herzog & de Moren
    • combined an old abandoned electrical station with new construction
  • 3. Commercial
    • Bastard Store, Studiometrico, 2011
      • 1950’s Cinema large enough for the store
      • They retained as much of the character of the old building as possible.

Bibliography:

Baer, William C. “Empty Housing Space: An Overlooked Resource.” Policy Studies Journal 8.2 (1979): 220-27. Web.

Bergsdal, Håvard, Rolf André Bohne, and Helge Brattebø. “Projection of Construction and Demolition Waste in Norway.” Journal of Industrial Ecology 11.3 (2007): 27-39. Web.

Bullen, Peter A. “Adaptive Reuse and Sustainability of Commercial Buildings.” Facilities 25.1/2 (2007): 20-31. Web.

Power, A. “Housing and Sustainability: Demolition or Refurbishment?”Proceedings of the ICE – Urban Design and Planning 163.4 (2010): 205-16. Web.

“47-2061 Construction Laborers.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Joint Center for Housing Studies. “America’s Rental Housing: Homes for a Diverse Nation.” (Publication of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University). HARVARD JOINT CENTER FOR HOUSING STUDIES, 8 Mar. 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

Kellert, S. R. 2005. Chapter 4: Biophilic design in Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection.Washington, DC: Island Press. pp. 123-177.

Power, Anne. “Does Demolition or Refurbishment of Old and Inefficient Homes Help to Increase Our Environmental, Social and Economic Viability?” Energy Policy 36.12 (2008): 4487-501. Web.

SCHALMO, Barbara Elwood. “COVERING THE COST OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Exploring the Adequacy of the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit to Cover the Increased Development Cost of Adaptive Reuse

“Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Transportation Sector Emissions. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Projects for Affordable Housing.” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, May 2008. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Tränkler, Josef O.v., Isa Walker, and Max Dohmann. “Environmental Impact of Demolition Waste — An Overview on 10 Years of Research and Experience.” Waste Management 16.1-3 (1996): 21-26. Web.