Adaptive reuse of historic buildings is often a good way to make use of empty unutilized spaces that are architecturally valuable to function as desirable and pleasing environments. The inherited architectural features, large amounts of craftsmanship in the details that usually accompany these older spaces are the appealing traits, which make them exclusive. The design idea of faculty housing in an early twenty’s century Baptist church currently used as the Virginia Commonwealth University Music Center represent an alternative option to it’s existing use. The faculty housing idea in this thesis, as a second adaptive reuse option does not try to resolve any existing problem with the current use, but is introducing an alternative way of design using old and new. To help with the progress of this thesis the following question was explored How is the integration of historic and new create a new entity?

The focus of this project is to provide a musical hub for the learning, practice, and performance of music for students ages 10-18 in order to cultivate trust and education in the community. This project examines the role music plays as a vital part of our communities and city resources. The communities we live in should not only supply opportunities for the music but support the music. Support of the music can allow cultural learning in the community and create a new pattern of education between parent and child. Just as most school systems support the learning of math and science, an emphasis should also be placed on the arts for educational, societal, and individual life success as the benefits are numerous. This project looks to provide a centralized space where a relationship between music and young people can be cultivated and expressed. Many public schools have small facilities, but a large center could provide a hub for musical activities for the local community.

ABSTRACT MOTIVATION American life is increasingly fragmented, leading to a sense of restlessness and disconnection. Much of that fragmentation can be traced to our pattern of architectural and sociological development, namely, the rise of the automobile suburbs in the 1950s and 60s and the abandonment of densely populated, human- scaled environments like that of the small town or city center (Oldenberg, 1999). PROBLEM Large numbers of architecturally significant buildings have fallen into disrepair over the years following the “white flight” of the 1960s and 70s, during which significant segments of investment dollars left city centers and followed to the suburbs (Kunstler, 1994). Specifically, older church buildings have fallen victim to a dilemma of sociological change. Many of the congregations that inhabit historic church buildings do not have the vitality, vision, and sometimes funds to maintain their buildings. While there are many newer congregations that do have the vision and vitality to maintain an older building, they often do not have the funds to do so. As a result, an increasing number of community treasures, buildings built at a dense urban and human scale, are being lost to neglect and misuse. METHODS In order to gain a clearer and more specific understanding of the issues involved in revitalizing and maintaining historic sacred spaces for the benefit of their communities, a course of study was undertaken which included readings of books and articles on urban revitalization such as “The Past and Future City” by Stephanie Meeks, those on third place like Ray Oldenberg’s classic, “The Great Good Place”, and some on the integration of the arts in community centers and shared space. Case studies of successful adaptive reuse projects of church and synagogue buildings, such as Maison de la Littérature in Quebec City and those undertaken by Partners for Sacred Places in Philadelphia, were investigated. Interviews were conducted with leaders from both older and newer urban congregations, and with directors of local community centers and for-profit businesses. RESULTS According to studies completed by The National Trust, historic buildings help a city to maintain its urban vitality, and maintaining stock of old buildings must be an important component of any serious conversation about sustainability in the built environment (Meeks, 2016). At the same time, many historic and architecturally significant buildings which were constructed at a time when church attendance was a larger part of the American cultural experience are falling into disrepair because the congregations that inhabit them are often unable to generate the energy, vitality, and funding that is necessary to maintain them. REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS This project will explore the development of a community center for education and the performing arts in an historic church building. The program will include a small cafe, rentable studio space, a library/ reading room, a performance venue, and event space. Research will support development of a third place model, successful adaptive reuse of sacred space, and will explore options for cost-effective renovation of an historic space.

The debate about the financial feasibility of adaptive reuse is high among investors, planners, policy makers and heritage advocates. The old argument that it is more profitable to demolish the old brick box and replace it with a new structure have left the streets of many cities across North America and Europe with abandoned and neglected sites. Traditionally, investors and owners of such properties have shown minimal interest in investing in the rehabilitation and reuse of these buildings. Still, a growing number of successful projects featuring innovative building renovation and reuse are emerging across the province. Governments at all levels have in fact started implementing a wide range of programs and policies to stimulate private investment in old, abandoned and underutilized buildings. Such policies have led to several innovative and successful stories across the province. However, few jurisdictions have taken full advantage of the potential economic, social, and environmental opportunities that these types of investments entail. This study examines, from a private sector perspective, the economic costs and benefits of adaptive reuse in Ontario, and compares it with other types of new construction development scenarios with an aim to determine the characteristics of success. It investigates the potential effectiveness of various government policies and programs designed to stimulate investment in adaptive reuse in Ontario by conducting financial comparisons and analyses with other types of hypothetical new construction development options.

The debate about the financial feasibility of adaptive reuse is high among investors, planners, policy makers and heritage advocates. The old argument that it is more profitable to demolish the old brick box and replace it with a new structure have left the streets of many cities across North America and Europe with abandoned and neglected sites. Traditionally, investors and owners of such properties have shown minimal interest in investing in the rehabilitation and reuse of these buildings. Still, a growing number of successful projects featuring innovative building renovation and reuse are emerging across the province. Governments at all levels have in fact started implementing a wide range of programs and policies to stimulate private investment in old, abandoned and underutilized buildings. Such policies have led to several innovative and successful stories across the province. However, few jurisdictions have taken full advantage of the potential economic, social, and environmental opportunities that these types of investments entail. This study examines, from a private sector perspective, the economic costs and benefits of adaptive reuse in Ontario, and compares it with other types of new construction development scenarios with an aim to determine the characteristics of success. It investigates the potential effectiveness of various government policies and programs designed to stimulate investment in adaptive reuse in Ontario by conducting financial comparisons and analyses with other types of hypothetical new construction development options.

ABSTRACT Today our economic competition faced great challenges because of international economic reform; meanwhile .Knowledge-based Economy. has already become a major trend in this age. Thus why our economies scrambling to catch on to the strategy of value added growth by combining high tech service and cultural creative contents. The way to get the master key to this is to get the right creative people to work on innovative projects and produce highly value added products. According to Florida.s theory¡]2003¡^¡uThe demographics show it is critically linked with the location where can attract and keep the talents. Provide for the needs of new Creativity that requires 3T: Talents in living in Tolerant and Technically supportive Clusters¡v. Set up a Cultural and Creative Center is one of the major goal of . Challenge 2008¡GThe National Development Plan in Taiwan. ; and currently the most important issue is the adaptive reuse of five deserted industrial wineries in five cities . This thesis emphasized mainly on the operation strategies of one case study¡GGranville Island District in Vancouver, Canada. The reason is: Granville Island District is one of the most successful projects in North America. The planning and designing objectives were to reuse the industrial and warehouse buildings by changing them into multi-use structures. The plan also focused on maintaining the industrial feel of the island while introducing a range of cultural, educational, commercial and some industrial uses. The research discovered from Granville Island District.s lessons that Granville Island has succeeded, not only by focusing on a coherent master plan or a theme park like design integrity, but through maintaining its flexibility as it has grown institutions, business and places from within ¡Ðserving a broader and broader set of users. The Granville Island District.s success story can be used as a best example of Hua Shan Cultural and Creative Industry Center.s future development plan.

Newark, New Jersey has endured large scale depopulation from 1930 through to 2000. Today the urban core of this city suffers from great social and cultural segregation between residents and daytime visiting populations who work in the city. To be reclaimed as a residential zone, the downtown core needs spaces that foster community interaction and growth. An opportunely sited, mixed-use community centre that encourages spontaneous encounters by cross-programming spaces and events could provide a safe place for residents to start reasserting neighbourhood ownership. By reclaiming the historically important, yet long empty, Hahne and Co. department store, the centre would acknowledge the homegrown success and decline of Newark’s past while turning the building into a supporting structure for the community to use in building a new future together. This thesis explores issues of adaptive re-use, programmatic diversity, community centre design and urban renewal.

Currently very few retired venues are reused and most are torn down to make room for new development. Of the venues that are reused, they are either converted into housing projects or mixed use commercial buildings. My goal of reusing Rexall Place, in Edmonton, Canada, is to help prove that the reuse of this building type is a viable option, one that can save many retired venues from demolition. The adaptive reuse of Rexall Place proposes the conversion of the large scale, sole purpose venue of the Edmonton Oilers hockey club into a multi-use facility that will continue to maintain the spirit of the building, while regenerating the urban fabric of the Northlands area. This project looks to give life back to Rexall Place, and spark urban regeneration in the communities surrounding Rexall Place by creating an accessible central hub for these communities through the inclusion of quality housing, shopping and recreational facilities.

Traditional church buildings negotiate thresholds in a way that supports a program of cyclical and elevating rituals. Each threshold is marked by an architectural image, one that comes to be associated with a particular practice or event. This thesis begins with an analysis of the experience of sacred spaces, then considers ways to emphasize qualities of existing elements. The design inhabits the liminal spaces across thresholds and promotes the contemporary ritual practices of art. The chosen test site for the design methodology is Central Presbyterian Church on the bank of the Grand River in Cambridge, Ontario. A recent resurgence of the local creative community has drawn interest to the area and provides the basis of the user-based program for this project.

Infill development, including the reuse of vacant and derelict industrial buildings, is a desirable form of development as municipalities face the pressure of continuous growth. There have been numerous industrial sites in Toronto that have already been redeveloped through adaptive reuse, but there are still sites that remain underutilized, and additional sites continue to become vacant across the city. As the prior use can no longer be supported, these buildings are demolished in order to construct new buildings, or they undergo adaptive reuse. The purpose of this report is to explain how the environmental, locational, legislative, market and financial characteristics of industrial buildings located in Toronto affect whether they are chosen for adaptive reuse. Additionally the similarities and differences between public and private sector adaptive reuse projects will be studied. This report will complement existing research completed by others on the characteristics of adaptive reuse projects in Ontario, and provide more specific information regarding the industrial adaptive reuse market in Toronto. The case study approach used in this report consists of eight industrial adaptive reuse projects in the City of Toronto. Interviews with the developers were completed to gain valuable insight into the factors that were present and affected the selection of the building. The analysis involved reviewing the data from the interviews to identify the similarities and differences between the characteristics of the developers’ projects. Based on the analysis of the interviews, four recommendations were made. These recommendations are provided with the goal of assisting developers during the selection of industrial buildings in Toronto to undergo adaptive reuse. Each recommendation considers the characteristic that a building and site should or should not possess. Recommendation 1: The site should not contain ground water contamination Recommendation 2: Use concrete buildings if planning an addition Recommendation 3: Select a building with interior demising walls removed Recommendation 4: Select a building that has financial or development incentives promoting reuse / Thesis (Master, Urban & Regional Planning) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-16 17:16:07.105