Adaptive Reuse

 

In the urban landscape today, we are constantly seeing land clearing for new developments that are supposedly going to bring economic growth to an area. Coincidently, we are also seeing small towns being vacated for new areas as well as historical buildings being vacated for an existential amount of time. Adaptive reuse has come into play in that it is a process that uses an existing building or even landscape for another purpose rather than the intended purpose. The idea of adaptive reuse is necessary in today’s time because obviously designers were not really considering future uses and functions of a particular structure. However, designers today should always design with the intention of creating multiple functions which would make adaptive reuse in the future null and void.

In the first reading, Hunt’s Haunts, James Corners expresses ideas that I believe could be beneficial for designers to consider so that adaptive reuse can be easier to manage in the future. Corner states, “Hunt has constructed an almost unassailable argument that the specificity of sites lies at the very core of any significant works of landscape architecture.” Hunt is stating for a landscape architecture project to be significant specific qualities such as the site, environment, etc. must be inherently incorporated into the design. Hunt states a valid argument, I think many times designers want to recreate a significant project in another location. In some cases, it could be possible, but every site should be treated uniquely in the design process. Corner uses the Highline in New York City, to justify that creating a calm elevated park in the middle of New York City works well however, this same idea maybe would not work so well a smaller city in southeastern portion of the U.S.

In a quote Corner states, “Long durée, the long duration, the slow accrual of experience and meaning over time.” This concept of long durée can actively be used appropriately when discussing a particular experience of Highline. I think many people have many different experiences even if both parties are there for the same amount of time. I think considering this process in more built environments or anything that needs to be built will create these places that are actively able to have multiple uses over the course of their lifetime. Long durée is the present process of an accurately designed built environment that if this state is passively done throughout time adaptive reuse may not even be necessary. When we are considering the built environment parking lots seem to be forgotten. However according to the reading “A lot on My Mind,” the author states, “In some U.S. cities, parking lots cover more than a third of the land area, becoming the single most salient landscape feature of our built environment.” I never really thought about the amount of parking lots that are built and most of them are rarely at maximum capacity. If anything needs adaptive reuse it should be the parking lots in our society since are basically a vehicle dependent country. I agree with the perspectives and examples of an adaptive reusable parking lot shown in the last reading, “Lots of Excellence.” Specifically, the parking lot at the University of Copenhagen, which basically created an urban green space that is an active parking lot but also can have a multitude of functions. One distinction I think should be incorporated is the nonuse of a solid asphalt parking lot.

In conclusion, all the readings seem to have one goal of being able to create significant built environments that have longevity and continued use.