7 Excellent Examples of Adaptive Reuse

It’s often hard to imagine that a building can be used for anything other than what it was intended, yet when they are left abandoned, having outlived their original purpose, many dilapidated structures cry out to be transformed rather than fall fowl to the demolition ball. Whether due to conservation issues, the limited availability of space for new ventures or because public campaigns are successful in saving beloved landmarks, adaptive reuse projects are on the increase. Here we share seven excellent examples of adaptive reuse from around the globe.

New Urban Economies: Architecture beyond buildings

For many decades entomologists studied insects in laboratories to understand everything about them. At some point over the course of the 20th Century, they reached a new level of understanding when they studied how individual species contributed towards a much larger eco system. Take ants for example. Ants not only grow and harvest their own food, they also safely handle material waste (including waste from other species), create their own medicines and disinfectants; in addition to constructing their own living environments from recycled material. They do all this, whilst maintaining soil and nurturing the eco system that they inhabit.

What If we could effectively design our own environments so that they matched the efficiency of the natural world? This arguably is the big challenge for design over the next fifty years.

Archi-Ninja on The Architects – “Advertisement for Architecture” radio segment

Recently Simon Knott and Stuart Harrison discussed the Most Over-rated Architects article and survey results on-air. Along with Christine Phillips, they run the radio show The Architects on Melbourne’s independent RRR radio station – one of my favourite Australian Architecture bloggers Rory Hyde, is their international correspondent. Listen to my segment on the show.