Construction of the Chicago Spire, once touted as the newest icon along Chicago’s skyline, was abandoned following the economic meltdown of 2008. A large hole where the tower would have stood symbolizes a national movement away from glamorous new construction.
Windy City. In Portland, Ore., for instance, new construction of commercial facili- ties has come to a near standstill while non-residential new construction in New York dropped 31 percent in 2011, according to data released by the New York Building Congress. These data point to a harsh reality:
Given the instability of the economy and the exorbitant cost of new construction, a glamorous new facility is not the most prudent option for many organizations.
A Sustainable Solution Adaptive reuse has played a critical role in the evolution of the nation’s most treasured urban areas; consider the historic neighborhoods along the Eastern Seaboard that have evolved not by level- ing and rebuilding but by repurposing.
Imagine Boston’s Beacon Hill without the historic materials—most notably brick— that distinguish its beloved structures. In today’s volatile economy, risk-aver-
sive developers and building owners are opting to repurpose older buildings. Alan Bombick, urban planner and principal at Legat Architects, Chicago, says, “In many cases, adaptive reuse is a faster, more cost- effective and a more sustainable alterna- tive to new construction.” The sustainability argument par-
ticularly relates to vast reductions in embodied energy compared to building from scratch: Reusing a building and its structural system reduces energy needed to extract, manufacture and transport materials. Moreover, occupying an exist- ing building already connected to “the grid,” versus building a new facility on a
The Green Exchange in Chicago transformed a 100-year- old clothing mill into a mixed-use sustainable community. PHOTOS: GREEN EXCHANGE