Revamped and Rebuilt: 13 Adaptive Reuse and Renovation Projects That Give Spaces a Second Chance
Adaptive reuse projects have myraid benefits — they can be more environmentally sustainable than new construction, they revitalize often dilapidated structures in states of disrepair, and oftentimes, they allow companies to build out and customize a unique space like none other.
And beyond converting buildings to entirely new uses — an old industrial building to an office for example — redesigning underutilized office properties to bring them up to modern standards can also make outdated buildings desirable.
These 13 projects make the most of their existing buildings' bones, whether it be a full retail revamp of a former auto body garage to create a luxury dispensary, for example, a century-old church converted into multifamily units or the modern redesign of a 1980s suburban office property that wasn't attracting tenants.
Let these examples spark your creativity to imagine the potential waiting in your next project, even if you can't envision it right off the bat.
Tech Firm’s Striking Headquarters Reimagines a Historic Montreal Icon
Through a four-phase, multi-year project that is still underway, Montreal firm ACDF Architecture is transforming the city’s Place Gare Viger, a historic train station and hotel, into a headquarters for the rapidly-expanding software development company Lightspeed, integrating the building’s original materials with striking modern design additions.
Creative Office Revamp Combines Barn, Café and Roof Deck
Clinc AI worked with architect Synecdoche Design Studio to turn this 90-year-old former railroad-anchored grocery depot, which had also been a Sears storage facility at one point and had barely been used in recent years, into a custom office for its 150 employees in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Renovation of Obsolete Office Sparks Sustainable Solution
When a government entity had to move its headquarters to meet efficiency targets, it didn’t break ground on a flashy, new “green-certified” office park, but instead renovated a 35-year-old masonry, Class-C suburban office building.
Common Resurrects 100-Year-Old Washington, DC, Church as Coliving Apartments
For one of its recent projects in Washington, D.C., where it currently manages eight buildings, coliving firm Common converted the 100-year-old neglected Mt. Rona Missionary Baptist Church into shared living units in this reverent remodel.
Skateboarding Under Skylights in a Montréal Office
Linebox Studio transformed 70,000 square feet of "dirty, dusty factory" in the Montréal landmark Le Nordelec into a modern tech mecca for software firm GSoft, complete with an indoor skate park.
This Atlanta Workspace Is a Community for Creatives
Developer Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate renovated a 1957-built warehouse on Atlanta’s Armour-Ottley Loop into the 35,000-square-foot Indie Studios, a workspace where tenants lease private office suites, but share common spaces and amenities with other businesses in the same field.
Suburban Office Overhaul Shows How Design Drives Leasing
When Studio BV was approached about revamping an underutilized office building in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, founder Betsy Vohs saw the potential to reposition the space, maximize its assets and bring high-end amenities to a building that at the time wasn’t enticing tenants to sign a lease there.
The Cannon Brings Coworking and Community to Houston Startups
The Cannon, a coworking company that develops communities for entrepreneurs seeking to network with investors and advisers, repurposed a 65,000-square-foot, 1950s-built manufacturing warehouse for its flagship location.
Former Grocery Store Transformed Into Family Social Club in New York City
The owners of Cocoon, a self-described “members-only hub for families," chose a ground-floor retail space, formerly a grocery store, in a multifamily building in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood for its 18,000-square-foot urban playground.
Luxury Cannabis Dispensary Showcases Products like Jewelry Stores
The owners of dispensary Serra purchased a vacant 1970s-era auto body shop in Los Angeles and did a full gut renovation, stripping the building down to the studs, to make their luxury retail vision come to life.
Industrial-to-Office Renovation Appeals to Creative and Tech Tenants
Through a gut renovation of a former masonry factory built in the 1920s, Brooklyn-based architecture firm Worrell Yeung created 77 Washington, a multi-use and adaptable workspace that celebrates and embraces its historic features in Brooklyn's Navy Yard neighborhood.
Farmer’s Fridge Startup Grows into Innovative, Budget-Friendly Office
In a century-old industrial building with manufacturing roots in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, a growing food manufacturing company is planting its roots at this 14,000-square-foot office space, which blends elements of a rustic farmhouse with gritty textures of the city.
Design Firm Revives Abandoned Nashville Library for its New HQ
Hastings Architecture bought the former Nashville Public Library in 2015 and has since transformed the 42,000-square-foot mothballed marble and concrete “new formalism" building into an open and light-filled office building for 75 employees.
