Preserving the past in new buildings is back in fashion
Adaptive reuse is taking off, allowing developers to cut down on waste, retain a building's character and even save money on construction costs
Giving new life to old buildings is one thing, but if it is not useful in the end, it will not be sustainable - and even buildings need to pay their way.
Repurposing, on the other hand, may achieve that. Using architectural innovation to make an existing structure viable again seems preferable on many levels: it retains some linkage to the past, saves construction waste and, sometimes, can even be more cost-effective than starting from scratch. Architects call this "adaptive reuse". And if it has not yet come to a neighbourhood near you, chances are it is not far away.
Repurposing of old buildings has been practised throughout history, says Teresa Jan, associate architect at global design firm M Moser Associates. It has come into vogue across America as people relinquish the suburban dream and move back into cities. In Hong Kong and, even occasionally, on the mainland the trend is catching on.
"Hearst Tower in Manhattan is a great example of juxtaposing a 1928 cast stone façade with a modern steel frame skyscraper, reviving the original vision of William Hearst," Jan says. "The High Line is a public park repurposed from a defunct railway elevated above the streets of Manhattan; and the old San Francisco ferry terminal was repurposed as offices and shops after the Bay bridge was built."
Jan also sees evidence of this here, citing projects including the repurposing of a heritage prison on Mount Davis for the Hong Kong campus of US business school Chicago Booth, scheduled to open in 2017, and the Sham Shui Po campus of Savannah College of Art and Design, transformed from the decommissioned North Kowloon Magistracy building (by international architecture firm Leo A Daly).
On the mainland, the trendy galleries, boutiques and restaurants making up Beijing 798 Art Zone were, in a former life, factories and warehouses. The abandoned remains of an old steel factory in Hongqiao have been turned into Red Town, which comprises museums, galleries, studios and boutiques. And while Paris has its revitalised Les Halles and New York its famous Meatpacking District, Old Millfun in Shanghai - once the municipal slaughterhouse - has been reborn as an upscale landmark of Bund 18, housing fashion, art, and corporate events.