Recycling Architecture: New Life for Older Bldgs

(4 Credits)

Re-cycling or re-using buildings is one of the most important subjects in the built environment. It is an area in which there have been some remarkable successes in recent years both in America and in Europe: impressive and much loved public buildings have been given new life by progressive architects and developers, helping ensure that our towns and cities retain their individual character. Unlike international modern buildings, historic buildings are strong markers of the industry, aspirations, local materials and the resources of a particular place. Recycling old buildings is crucial so our architectural and social history can be read in the townscape that surrounds us.A course about recycling old buildings presents an opportunity to explore some basic themes in the built environment – architecture history, environmental issues and the rise of the conservation movement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Buildings are responsible for 50% of our carbon emissions each year, and more than half of a building’s energy footprint is expended in the relatively short spell of its construction. ‘Even the best planned new buildings are no match against the preservation, modernization, conversion and re-use of existing buildings when it comes down to the consumption of resources’ (Karl Ganser) Re-using our redundant historic architecture for new purposes has obvious positive benefits for the planet. Equally, upgrading historic buildings in use, like our housing stock, is environmentally smarter that demolishing parts of our cities and starting again with new structures.The locations and nature of industrial production has changed across the world. Most western cities have a surfeit of industrial spaces and buildings lying empty, often in their centres. This course will first cover the story of the development of industrial architecture from the 18th century onwards and look at how these robust, proud and often highly decorative structures can accommodate new uses. We will look at how inventive designers, backed by local government, have found ways of reclaiming the industrial ‘brownfield’ landscapes into new spaces for recreation and development in our cities, focusing on particular examples in New York, London and in Germany.