ADAPTIVE REUSE PROJECT

An old two story, brick building of 8,000 sq. ft. became occupied by a new Owner whom purchased the building for investment and his business. 

The previous owner operated an automobile business in this building and now the occupancy changed to accommodate a different use. 

We were hired to provide design and construction Consulting work, mainly for coordinating the Owner’s direct-cost contracting trades, providing our formidable package of quality material suppliers to him, collaborate with a lot of design ideas and help manage costs and schedule.

The design and construction concept was to help preserve the communities architectural presence, in terms of this 1940’s architectural heritage, yet adapt it to more state-of-the-art lifestyle. So we kept the exterior original red brick, black steel frame windows and interesting bow shaped roof in its original form and textures. We sandblasted the paint off of the interior brick and bowed wood trusses to expose the beauty of these natural materials. Slight divots in the wood of the trusses then appeared, adding even more character to their structural, functional and aesthetic value.

Some examples of our design input included: sandblasting paint off of the trusses, decorative epoxy coatings over the existing concrete floor (after we used a pressure washer and industrial strength eco-friendly cleaning products) that segregated areas of the various spaces, a small airplane (we took the engine that didn't work out to lessen the weight on the truss members) and even had the Owner's business logo painted onto the metal shrouding we had made to cover the space where the engine was and a long sequence of gable skylights that provided natural light throughout the longitudinal axis of the building, created an inviting interior environment. 

Repurposing of this building also worked well with the communities revitalization programs. Our sustainable approach was well received and likely assisted in obtaining permits with not much hassle. As well, the integrity of the overall building now reflects more traditional accepted design values with the original exterior materials working congruously with the newly revitalized interior materials.

Let us know if you have an Adaptive Reuse project for consideration and we can explore the many possibilities available.

Best Always!

Barry R. Shaw AIA, GC

BSA Inc. Design & Construction