The world is full of old abandoned buildings. They used to be warehouses, shipyards and other important community centers, but now they serve no purpose and simply take up space. Instead of tearing down these buildings, we can revive them to fit a modern purpose. Repurposing instead of demolishing benefits both the community and the environment.
The Environmental Impact of Building Demolitions
Demolition alone represents more than 90% of the construction industry’s waste generation. When an abandoned building is torn down, millions of particles of dust, dirt and leftover chemicals are released into the atmosphere. The surrounding community can suffer from poor air quality, polluted waterways and destroyed ecosystems.
Most demolition projects repurpose some of the damaged materials, but any debris that doesn’t get repurposed goes to a landfill. This debris consists of hazardous materials or chemicals such as lead, asbestos and varnishes that contaminate the air and seep into the soil, polluting the local groundwater.
Urban areas are polluted enough to begin with, thanks to constant emissions from vehicles, industrial facilities and other construction projects around town. Demolishing old buildings substantially adds to the problem, so it’s crucial to find other ways to use these buildings instead of tearing them down.
Different Ways to Repurpose Old Buildings
There are two main alternatives to demolishing old buildings. Many contractors who get hired to demolish buildings use a strategy called “soft demolition,” which effectively reverses the construction process and breaks the building down into organized parts. Soft demolitions emit fewer contaminants and allow all of the building’s materials to get reused or recycled.
The other alternative is to avoid demolition altogether and give the building a new lease on life. Upcycling old buildings can certainly be a challenging endeavor for modern designers and contractors, but making structural changes firstallows them to implement cosmetic upgrades with fewer hiccups.
Additionally, the advancement of construction technology makes it much easier to design and supervise challenging projects. For example, site positioning systems and building information modeling (BIM) transform buildings into digital databases to help designers monitor the entire site and make precise changes.
Successful building revivals can have huge societal impacts if utilized to their full potential. The most exciting trend has been the creation of many new schools from abandoned warehouses and factories. These schools focus on health, wellness and sustainability. Some of them even get help from LEED professionals to implement eco-friendly design features.
Old buildings are also great opportunities for residential conversions that help address the housing crisis. Abandoned office buildings are the perfect structures for new apartment complexes. For example, the old Daily News office in Lower Manhattan was recently converted into a 1,300-room apartment building for local residents.
Contractors have utilized all kinds of vacant buildings to create affordable housing, including old textile mills, funeral homes, parking garages and shopping malls. The Voke Lofts in Worcester, Massachusetts, transformed from a boy’s trade school into a mixed-income multi-family community. The building’s hardened exterior is the same, but the inside is completely different.
Whatever the building’s new function, repurposing them allows designers to add new sections to the existing space. They often incorporate outdoor recreational spaces like terraces, courtyards and community gardens. Putting more focus on the outdoors is a key part of environmentally friendly construction.
Benefits of Upcycling Old Buildings
Upcycling old buildings for a new purpose is in everyone’s best interest — the local community, the construction workers, the building designers and the property owners. Of course, it also greatly benefits the environment.
1. Eliminates Demolition Waste
Waste reduction is the most immediate benefit of repurposing buildings instead of demolishing them. The building fulfills another important role in the community rather than filling the air with particulate matter and adding piles of debris to landfills. Eliminating demolition waste is a huge step toward making the construction industry more sustainable.
2. Makes Urban Centers More Sustainable
As metropolitan populations continue to grow, so does the need for eco-friendly urban architecture. Old buildings give city officials numerous opportunities to implement features that make urban communities more sustainable. They can improve key aspects such as energy consumption, air quality, water purity and environmental justice.
3. Saves Time, Money and Resources
Working with older architecture can be difficult, but it’s still easier than building a new school or apartment complex from scratch. Old buildings are often made of stronger materials and provide an excellent foundation for the rest of the project. Working with an existing frame saves everyone time, money and construction resources.
4. Keeps Old Architecture Alive
Another great reason to repurpose old buildings is to keep architecture from past generations alive. These buildings are important cultural artifacts that give us inspiration and insights for future construction projects. Giving them a modern purpose will keep them alive for our children and grandchildren to see.
Combining the Old With the New
Upcycling abandoned buildings allows us to combine the old with the new. We can combine the strong framework of older buildings with the new technologies and design trends of the modern world. Repurposing buildings is a challenging task, but the benefits to the environment and the surrounding community are worth the extra effort.
