Images: Gensler - Austin, Texas
Upcycling existing buildings involves celebrating and designing around what already exists. Adaptive reuse, on the other hand, involves taking an existing building and repurposing and redesigning it for another use.
In a 2017 report in Disegno, a quarterly journal of design out of Copenhagen, Denmark, the concept of upcycling is discussed. The journal's coverage suggests that in a world where recycling is not enough to keep up with the environmental challenges we face, traditional recycling--while critical in terms of creation care--must evolve.
In the article, entitled "Architectural Upcycing," Anders Lendager, CEO of the Lendager Group in Nordhavnen, Denmark, states, "As designers and architects, we have the responsibility to show that the things we consider waste can be designed and transformed into beautiful new resources.”
While the refurbishing of old buildings for new uses is nothing new for architects and designers, many are turning to upcycling as the most responsible approach today.
A step beyond adaptive reuse, upcycling, sometimes called creative reuse, is the process of transforming waste materials or useless or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as environmental value and artistic value. It’s an approach that's gaining ground each year.
Upcycling and the modern church
Gensler, an architecture, design, planning, and consulting company with offices in Austin, Texas, does a good deal of work with houses of worship and religious schools in the Lone Star state, with recent projects including Anchor Bend Church in Houston, Hope City Church in The Woodlands, and Trinity Downtown Lutheran Church in Houston.
Gensler also has experience with upcycling. And its studio director, Travis Albrecht, AIA, LEED-AP, reports that the same design principles used in upcycling commercial properties can be applied to church design, helping houses of worship practice creation care and model good environmental stewardship for their communities.
“Our firm is very committed to sustainability and reducing carbon these days, and reusing old building stock is a very important strategy in reducing carbon,” Albrecht says. “That’s going to be a key way for a lot of people—including churches—to be better stewards.”
Upcycling, community, and atmosphere
In 2018, Gensler's Austin office was approached by EverWest Real Estate Partners to transform its 46-year-old, 81,711-square-foot, one-story warehouse into a creative office building. The firm utilized an upcycling approach, preserving the warehouse’s unique appearance and turning the structure into a modern space optimized for collaboration.
Dror Baldinger FAIA
Gensler reused 95% of the existing warehouse structure, including the building skin, which was turned inside-out to reveal the original metal finish. Original industrial exhaust fans now serve as decorative details, while roll-up, glass garage doors lead to a large outdoor area that serves as the venue's front porch.
“This particular building used to be an old recycling center,” notes Albrecht. “This really fit their ethos and the idea of creating a more open office environment geared towards the tech industry here in Austin.”
He continues, “Typically, reusing buildings in the architectural world has more of preservation-type connotations ... and so the notion we took is reusing what exists and bringing it forward for architectural use and enhancing what was already there. We wanted to maintain the character of the neighborhood, which everyone has grown to love and appreciate.”
With that in mind, the design of the building and spaces targets the creative tech community that values flexibility, openness, culture, and collaboration. Gensler transformed the existing warehouse into bright, colorful office space with a sky-lit common corridor, mezzanine space, a series of patios, and an employee kitchen.
Since the building had sat unoccupied for several years, it was partly covered in graffiti, and the work was so strong that it had been used for various graffiti art exhibitions. Therefore, Gensler reached out to those who had done the graffiti and hired them and other local artists to create an interior aesthetic consistent with the character of East Austin.
“The vibrant colors of the art that adorn the existing structure enliven the former industrial space and celebrate the past,” Albrecht says.
The design’s focus on communal and social aspects for individual tenants to come together was also well received. For instance, roll-up, glass garage doors lead to a large outdoor area that serves as the front porch for the building.
“As an office environment, we really did focus on the social aspects of the building, even though there would potentially be multiple tenants in the building, each with their own suites and offices,” Albrecht says. “We really focused on the public space.”
In a nod to the building’s past as a shipping facility, a decommissioned train car serves as an outdoor break room. Additionally, instead of having a normal lobby that simply brings people to their company's suite, Gensler made the lobby a mixing place for the tenants--one reminiscent of modern church lobbies and gathering spaces.
“This is where they can come to have a different area to work or meet, and people could just spill out onto different furniture and play ping-pong and socialize,” Albrecht says. “There’s also a coffee bar set up for tenants and a table for large groups to sit around.”
In total, 95% of the existing warehouse structure was reused, including the building skin, which was turned inside-out to reveal the original metal finish. Industrial exhaust fans, too, were used as decorative details.
Albrecht says the firm’s overall approach to materials, daylight through skylights, social space, and efficient systems resulted in a finished product that is rooted in the past but looks forward into the future. The project went on to gain acclaim, including a 2020 AIA COTE Top Ten Award.
“We wanted to make sure the building fit in and continued the character of the neighborhood,” Albrecht closes. “Churches obviously have a big tie to the communities they are in and who they serve, so I think repositioning and reuse of buildings could be a strategy that goes hand-in-hand with that mission.”