ANDREW ELLIOTT​

The Research Methods class challenged students to find causes and effects of architectural methods meaningful to them.  Adaptively reusing old buildings to meet current architectural needs is not a new concept, but has become a growing trend.  The appeal of such projects and the keys to successful transformation was worth inquiring.  Throughout the course of the semester, case studies of successes and failures of adaptive reuse projects were analyzed to determine the feasibility as well as the environmental significance upon completion.

Aging buildings could be seen as a drain of their community and difficult to maintain.  By reusing existing buildings, the historic significance of the area may remain intact.  Other benefits include revitalizing communities, boosting the economy and diverting waste.  Costs of adaptively reusing buildings have hindered developers in the past.  However, Federal and State grants for adaptive reuse projects have enticed many developers to preserve facilities rather than destroy them to create new.  Critics believe these projects strip the building of its historical significance.  Nevertheless, the process of adaptive reuse is becoming a common business practice.

The research concluded that adaptive reuse projects are not all economical, and each project should be carefully considered.  The results of the case studies showed that more successful projects were completed by developers interested in preserving historic architecture for the community rather than purely for business purposes.  Those developers were typically familiar with the area, concerned for the community and took their time to carefully plan the project.  Successful professionals had thoroughly researched their project area and completed a cost/benefit analysis before breaking ground.  Latent conditions and costly unknowns condemned many of the projects that were deemed unsuccessful.  These problems were usually attributed to poor planning, which is a common folly in general for many in the architecture profession.