Archinect - News

World's longest elevated pedestrian loop at the Minnesota Zoo officially opens

2023-07-31T16:05:00-04:00

The Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail, the world’s longest elevated pedestrian loop, is officially open to the public. The project, which saw 1.25 miles of a former monorail structure repurposed into a walkway, will take guests 32 feet above the ground and provide new views of and experiences with the zoo’s diverse wildlife, hardwood forest, and wetlands.

The scheme’s design was led by Minneapolis-based Snow Kreilich Architects, alongside engineering firm Buro Happold (known for its work on the High Line in New York City) and landscape architecture and urban design practice TEN x TEN. The construction leader was PCL. Together, the team was committed to minimizing disruptions to the zoo’s animals and guests before, during, and after construction.

“The Treetop Trail marks a new chapter for the Minnesota Zoo,” said John Frawley, the institution's director and foundation president. “As we look ahead to the Zoo’s next 45 years, the Treetop Trail is a major step in furthering connections to nat...

Moody Nolan and Stull & Lee to lead design of mixed-use, affordable Columbia Crossing development in Boston

2023-02-24T15:19:00-05:00

The City of Boston has announced its financial support for a mixed-use, mixed-income development in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood. Called Columbia Crossing, the project will repurpose the historic Dorchester Savings Bank building and adjacent parking lot into an approximately 86,000-square-foot residential, commercial, and retail complex.

The scheme will be developed by nonprofit developer Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) in partnership with the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC), a nonprofit Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) based in Upham’s Corner. The endeavor will consist of the construction of a new six-story building addition to the back of the existing Dorchester Savings Bank as well as the adaptive reuse of the bank building. Stull & Lee, Inc. and Moody Nolan are partnering on the architecture.

POAH and DBEDC were chosen through a competitive, community-driven RFP process led by Dudley Neighbors Inc. (DNI), a local community land trust and t...

New data reveals the growing state of adaptive reuse residential conversions nationwide

2022-11-10T17:57:00-05:00

In the last two years, apartment conversions jumped by 25% compared to two years prior. More precisely, this increasingly popular real estate niche brought a total of 28,000 new rentals in 2020-2021, well above the pre-pandemic years of 2018-2019 when 22,300 apartments were brought to life through adaptive reuse.

The new data set from real estate researchers Yardi Matrix gives some additional context to the information in yesterday’s 2022 AIA Firm Survey, which said that almost half (48%) of all projects currently being pursued by U.S. firms involve the renovation, rehabilitation, extension, or preservation of existing buildings.

An analysis of the data (which only concerns residential construction) shows that adaptive reuse schemes more than doubled (10% compared to 25%) the growth rate of new apartment construction in the country since the beginning of 2018.

The figures include an unsurprising 43% jump in the conversion of office buildings into apartments between 2020-2021 and 2018-19, representing some 40% of the whole. Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia are the leading cities for the method, and thus far in 2022, Los Angeles is leading all markets with a total of 1,242 converted a...

Decommissioned BART cars to be transformed into a variety of venues across the Bay Area

2022-04-04T14:18:00-04:00

Eight lucky winners have been awarded decommissioned BART cars, as BART announced these retired cars will be transformed into a retro video game arcade, a bike repair shop, and a beer garden at The Oakland A’s stadium.

In 2020, BART issued a request for proposals for the creative reuse of old train cars as they are taken out of service and replaced by their “Fleet of the Future” cars. The first of the BART’s 775 new train cars went into service in January 2018. The fate of the decommissioned cars, some dating to the original fleet in the early 1970s, is being stripped and recycled into scrap heap.

The eight recipients were selected after submitting a proposal to BART describing what they intended to do with the vehicle, including their plans for the cars’ retrieval and disposal once they’ve served their purpose. The remaining decommissioned cars, with approximately 531 still in service, will be mainly recycled over time.

The "Residence and short-term rental" proposal by Hernandez-Eli Architecture.

The winning proposals for the repurposed BART cars include the creation of a retro video game arcade, a craft beer garden at The Oakland A’s stadium, a bike repair shop, a multi-use social space, a muse...

Historic California post office temporarily moved to make way for new mixed-use complex

2022-02-23T14:45:00-05:00

A historic 1940s post office building, weighing 1,010 tons, is being temporarily moved 120 feet in Burlingame, California to make way for the construction of a new underground parking garage beneath the building’s current location as part of the planned 220 Park Road office and retail development.

While relocated, the historic structure will be restored before being moved back on site and integrated with the new development as a restaurant space at the base of the office building. The move is to ensure its safety during the construction of the new development. Page & Turnbull is the preservation architect working with KSH Architects and rehabilitation specialists Garden City Construction to move the building. The development is led by a joint venture of Sares Regis Group of Northern California (SRGNC) and Dostart Development Company (DDC). The project broke ground in September and will deliver 185,000 square feet of new office and retail space in a 1.3-acre lot in the center of do...

Former home of Nelson Mandela opens as boutique hotel

2022-02-22T15:07:00-05:00

This historic home is now a museum with an overnight rate. The former house and surrounding gardens of former South African president and anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela is now accepting reservations after being transformed into an inn.

Located in the suburb of Houghton, Johannesburg, Sanctuary Mandela, not only offers lodging but also features curated exhibits that pay tribute to the human rights activist and a restaurant with menu items inspired by Mandela’s favorite meals.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sanctuary Mandela (@sanctuarymandela)

The boutique hotel includes nine rooms and retreat spaces and can host up to 18 guests at a time. The former residence is the first home Mandela lived in following his 27 years of imprisonment. Between 1992 and 1998, he resided in the building where a range of famous guests was hosted and later used as the headquarters for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Plywood boards used to protect New York establishments are repurposed into captivating sculptures

2021-05-25T17:52:00-04:00

Across New York City’s five boroughs, five new public art installations are on display, each made from salvaged plywood boards that were used for a much different purpose a year ago.

Be Heard by Behin Ha Design Studio.

The sculptural pieces were created as part of New York art nonprofit worthless studios’ Plywood Protection Project. The initiative sought and repurposed discarded plywood boards that were formerly used to seal and protect New York City storefronts closed due to the pandemic and last summer’s protests calling for justice and reform regarding systemic racism and police brutality towards Black Americans. worthless studios notes that during peak protest months across the city, prices skyrocketed to above $90 for a single 4’ x 8’ AC plywood board, and supply rapidly depleted.

In Honor of Black Lives Matter by KaN Landscape Design and Caroline Mardok.

Rather than l...

Win a copy of “Reprogramming the City”, a book that explores new possibilities in existing city design

2018-12-14T13:00:00-05:00

Time for a book giveaway! Archinect readers have a chance to win a copy of “Reprogramming the City”. Authored by writer and urban strategist Scott Burnham and designed by Samantha Altieri, this new book presents a collection of real-world examples of how existing urban elements can be redesigned to perform alternate functions or even take on completely new roles in the city.

Chapter 2: Shelter + Housing. Photo credit: Reprogramming the City.

Chapter 4: Energy + Ecology. Photo credit: Reprogramming the City.

The 214-page book features over 40 projects based in numerous cities across 17 countries — from billboards in Lima that were repurposed to generate clean drinking water, to bus shelters in Umeå, Sweden that swapped their advertising lights for light-therapy tubes to give commuters a mood boost during the dark winter months. Projects are thematically organized into five chapters: Food and Water; Shelter and Housing; Health and Wellbeing; Energy and Ecology; and Renewal and Recovery....

Construction begins on Atlanta's largest public park by John Portman & Associates

2018-09-10T15:49:00-04:00

Construction has begun on Atlanta's soon-to-be largest park by John Portman & Associates. The repurposed quarry pit will not only provide an outdoor recreational area but also create 2 billion gallons of emergency drinking water for Atlanta, increasing the city’s emergency water reserves from 3 to 30 days.

The first phase of Westside Park at Bellwood Quarry includes constructing a signature gateway for the park's entrance. Once completed, the new green space will be 100 acres larger than Atlanta’s currently largest park.

The new exhibition at the National Building Museum, 'Architecture of an Asylum', explores the links between mental health and architecture

2017-07-10T17:58:00-04:00

Dix made sure the hospital that became St. Elizabeths in 1916 had heat, tall arched windows and screened sleeping porches where patients could catch summer breezes. Photos, models and floor plans included in the museum exhibit show handsome brick buildings — with towers, high ceilings, open space and river views.

Washington's National Building Museum features an exhibit that tells the story of architecture of St. Elizabeths or, as originally named upon its opening in 1855, the Government Hospital for the Insane.

Started by Dorothea Dix, the 19th century reformer who fought for the facility to represent healthier standards for mental health treatment, the history of the federally-operated hospital bears traces of America's changing healthcare system, evolving theories of how to care for the mentally ill, as well as the later reconfiguration of the campus as a federal workplace and mixed-use urban development.

The porches of the 1890s Allison Buildings, shown above in 1910, were later enclosed to provide more space for patient beds. Image courtesy of National Building Museum

"Some things cannot be cured," says Denise Everson, an architect in the D.C. area who specializes in design and health. "But I think humane treatment — I think, creative treatment — is where we should go as a community, as...

Dutch prisons converted into homes for refugees

2017-06-21T18:09:00-04:00

As the country’s crime rate and prison population have steadily declined for years, dozens of correctional facilities have closed altogether. So when the number of migrants started to rise—more than 50,000 entered the Netherlands last year alone—the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) saw a solution.

Many prisons in the Netherlands have been repurposed to house refugees who are waiting to be granted asylum status, a process that usually takes at least six months. Free to come and go as they please, the refugees are not allowed to work but are encouraged to learn Dutch and build connections with the surrounding community.

In Detroit, a Groundbreaking School Comes Back as Condos

2014-06-18T13:39:00-04:00

Due to plummeting enrollment and a troubled district, vacant school buildings—heck, just vacant buildings—are none too rare in Detroit. After 19 years of abandonment, the Nellie Leland School, however, is no longer vacant—it, as abandoned urban buildings are want to do, is back in session as condos. [...] Today, the school is known as Leland Lofts, a set of expansive condos in the Lafayette Park neighborhood near downtown Detroit, where a 1,465-square-foot, one-bedroom loft goes for $175K.

Ricardo Bofill’s “Time Space Existence” exhibition on La Fabrica for the 2014 Venice Biennale

2014-06-06T18:54:00-04:00

"Time Space Existence" tells the story behind La Fabrica, the well-known headquarters of Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura that is located in a repurposed cement factory in Barcelona...By reimagining La Fabrica in new locations -- particularly in Venice -- the exhibition serves as a case study that goes beyond the structure's physical presence and explores its timelessness throughout the last century.

As one of the many Collateral Events at the 2014 Venice Biennale, the exhibition opens to the public at The Palazzo Bembo starting June 7 through Nov. 23, 2014.

Check out more details on Bustler.

Paris' "ghost stations" could be revitalized as galleries, swimming pools, restaurants

2014-02-07T14:42:00-05:00

The Paris Métro, opened in 1900, extends over more than 200 kilometers of track, serving more than 300 individual stops. But there are 11 more stations that, though once built, now stand nearly abandoned. Many of these "ghost" or "phantom" stations shuttered after the occupation during WWII. [...] Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has a bold plan for these phantom stations ... these abandoned spaces should be reclaimed for the city's residents.

Working alongside mayoral candidate Kosciusko-Morizet, architect Manal Rachdi and urban planner Nicolas Laisné composed a few renderings of what the stations could become under the proposal. Featuring Arsenal, one of the stations closed since 1939, here are a few potential uses:

Night club:

Restaurant:

Art gallery:

Theater:

All images via NKM Paris, from Oxo architects + Laisné Architect.