Wind turbine maker Vestas today announced that it’s figured out how to recycle all wind turbine blades – even ones already sitting in landfills.The Danish company says it has discovered a solution that “renders epoxy-based turbine blades as circular, without the need for changing the design or composition of blade material.”
Source: A Danish wind turbine giant just discovered how to recycle all blades
Photography: Eric Isaacson of SquareOne Media
Midcentury architect Bruce Goff built a plethora of organic buildings across the Midwest and beyond, combining imaginative forms with found and reclaimed materials, including ribbed Quonset huts, feathers and cullet.
Source: Searing House by outsider architect Bruce Goff asks for $975,000 – The Spaces
Paul Kenyon started distilling gin during lockdown
He admitted that the toilets in St Martin’s Avenue had once been “terrible”, but it was also ideal for his distilling needs because it had drainage, electricity and water. After removing the cubicles, he had it redecorated with reclaimed materials, including tin from a friend’s farm and reused coffee sacks.
Source: Hereford distillery opens tap room in former toilet block – BBC News
Reclaimed wooden walkways and shared outdoor spaces make up a lot of the reclaimed Kha-Nam Noi House.
Thai architecture firm YangNar Studio recently completed “Kha-Nam Noi house” in the central province of Sing-Buri, Thailand, using an existing elongated pigsty as a shell for a series of comfortable living spaces made almost entirely with reclaimed materials.
Source: YangNar Studio Converted a Pigsty into a Beautiful Tropical Home in Thailand
Lloyd Alter’s cabin in Shoe Lake, Ontario, Canada. Lloyd Alter
The doors were grabbed from an office renovation, probably installed in the ’80s and replaced in the ’90s. The dining room table is cut out of a bowling alley, on a base my dad made; it was in his cottage for years. My dad also made the sideboard—it’s made from the floors of shipping containers.
Source: My Forest Cabin Is Built on Stilts With Recycled Materials
The rear of the home has multi-level patios and sitting areas and a heated pool and spa. Eddie Avenue Photography
This unusual new spec house in the Virginia suburbs offers an old-fashioned mix of hardwood flooring milled from trees on the property and reclaimed materials from the former house on the site that’s been paired with ultra-modern features.
We met up with John J. Bauters, Mayor of Emeryville, CA to learn more about his experience as arguably one of the most bike-friendly mayors in the U.S. In this rider story, John takes us on a tour of Emeryville, talks about his upbringing, and how others can inspire change no matter what city they live in.
Credit: Getty Images
Leading architects, interior designers and estate agents share their best ideas to convert a barn into a great home.
Source: 12 barn conversion ideas and expert tips to inspire your project – Country Life
Hello my name is Stephen Taylor and in 2016 I bought a derelict shop in Birkenhead, U.K for £26,000 at auction. This building was in such a poor state that the guide price at auction was just £10,000 – £12,000. With a lot of hard work over the last five years I have now transformed it into a modern four bedroom home.
Hand in hand with this change comes a glut of what might be termed ‘compromised buildings’ standing empty. In the context of the climate crisis, the tendency to replace these stranded assets with new-build is unattractive and wasteful – instead we need to look at options for skilful reworking that embraces their embedded character to create unique solutions that are ready for the new world of work.
Source: Orms reworks listed office building retaining 92% of original structure
Bricks from the original structure were recycled and reused where possible, although in places where the walls are entirely new, a different kind of mortar was used to subtly highlight the difference between time periods across the building’s skin. Inside, the exposed brick character of the structure continues in all its glory, providing a tactile, yet neutral enough and versatile backdrop for art display.
Source: Tehran’s Argo Factory complex reinvents brewery architecture for the arts
Student designer Stella van Beers converted a disused grain silo into a two-story micro-home, fit for the pages of a Dr. Seuss adventure.
Plotted all over the Netherlands’ countryside, grain silos are largely going out of use due to a country-wide reduction of livestock, leading to lower demand for grain. Converting the disused silos into a functional and quirky place of respite, Stella van Beers renovated the cylindrical unit into a micro home.
Former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land off Route 78 may be producing lettuce and herbs this spring, regardless of the weather.
Pennsylvania provided incentives to help bring Bowery to the old Steel property. When Bowery’s plans were announced in December 2020, state Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) said the company would play a role in converting the former industrial site, or “brownfield,” into a modern business paying a living wage.
Gerry Theodorakis stands at the main entrance to the castle, where a Georgian-style columned portico will soon be built. Photo: Leah Szanto
Gerry likes to use reclaimed materials wherever possible and has sourced many stunning additions to both the structure of the residence and the décor contained within, including tiles embedded with fossils, French period-style lighting and solid handcrafted antique timber furniture, most of which is very ornate. “I detest waste and always use as many recycled materials as I possibly can,” he said.
Arup rebuilt 1 Triton Square in London using retained materials and saved 19,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Delaye sourced a variety of reclaimed materials for the interior. The panelled doors and herringbone floor are from a Haussmann apartment in the 16th arrondissement; the red marble fireplace came from a grand house in Belgium; and the shutters are from a villa in the south of France. “Each item brings it own story,” says Delaye. “They give the impression that they have always been there.”
Source: How a Paris designer built a family home in an old mirror factory | Interiors | The Guardian
Although the timbers used in the cottage’s construction have been tree ringed, dating back to 1414 – it is thought they were not built until around 1648 by Rev Bryan of Holy Trinity Church, using reclaimed materials from other building projects.
Source: Lady Godiva’s medieval legacies live on thanks to secondary glazing
On 4 October WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson visited Holcim’s Lägerdorf plant in Germany, together with Claudia Grotz of Siemens Gamesa and Chair of WindEurope’s Sustainability Working Group. They met the Geocycle team who are using wind turbines blade waste to generate heat and ash to help make cement. It’s currently the only such cement plant in Europe that’s using blade waste.
The organic content of blade waste is recovered as thermal energy while the mineral fraction of the waste is integrated as ash in the matrix of the cement clinker the plant produces. This reduces the carbon footprint of cement production and makes it more resource efficient. This is because the blade waste substitutes (partially) for fossil fuels in the incineration process and for other materials in the clinker production process. One tonne of blade waste reduces CO2 emissions by 110 kg and saves 461 kg of raw materials.
Source: WindEurope CEO visits German cement plant that’s running on blade waste | WindEurope
The exterior stairwell, leading into the dining and kitchen area (at door), with original terrazzo floor.
In their quest to preserve Californian heritage, John McIlwee and Bill Damaschke have saved not one but two iconic homes. Early-1980s art has inspired the latest chapter in the enduring tale of the John Lautner-designed Garcia House in Los Angeles. Photographed by Roger Davies.
Source: Garcia House: John Lautner’s modernist Los Angeles home renovated – Vogue Australia
Reclaimed materials have been used where possible. The handrails on the first floor were made from plywood cut-offs from the interior cladding on the ground floor while outdoor seating furniture is formed from reclaimed concrete. All interior doors are reclaimed from the Reykjavik city recycling centre and the textile woollen curtain room partition in the studio was taken from the client’s previous family business inventory from the 1960s.
Source: Studio Bua turns Icelandic barn into artist’s studio
Photography: Lauren Engel
Koya House is listed with RsR Real Estate at Compass for $1.589m, having been overhauled using reclaimed materials, concrete and a monochrome colour palette to modernise its 1920s shell.
Source: Koya House in LA shows the softer side of minimalism – The Spaces
Randal Plunkett at Dunsany Castle. He turned from a steak-eating bodybuilder with no interest in land, to a vegan on an environmental mission. Photograph: Patrick Bolger
It is probably Ireland’s most ambitious attempt at rewilding on private land, an attempt to recreate a vanished landscape in a swath of County Meath, 20 miles north-west of Dublin.
Growing Underground Cambridge University/YouTube
Since 2015, London-based Growing Underground has been using one of London’s eight underground World War Two bomb shelters to grow fresh produce indoors in an environment where no pesticide is required.
Source: London Wartime Bunkers Offer Essential Vertical Farm Space | IE
Macy’s, 2018. Image © Jesse Rieser
“I’ve seen the economic development happen to our community — it’s frustrating on a local level,” he said. “But, at the same time, I see a regular list of articles about Amazon building here and Amazon building there. I’m not sure any of us really fully understand the implications because it’s happening so so fast.”
Source: Amazon is buying up dead malls–adaptive reuse, or just eating its prey? | News | Archinect
Forgotten sections of Chicago’s south side Englewood neighborhood are, however briefly, made visible again by members of the community.
Courtesy Stijn Poelstra/Zecc Architecten
Some of these interventions are so sensitive and surgical that they might be seen as prototypes for similar spaces all over the world, making a case for reusing structures instead of tearing them down.
Source: 6 Projects That Made the Netherlands a World Capital of Adaptive Reuse
Photograph by Aaron Colussi
Working with architect Collin Kemberlin, the couple transformed the silo—part of a Temple Buell–designed World War II medical supply depot built in 1942—into two living spaces that adjoin their main residence, a former boiler house.
BKSK Architect’s Tammany Hall Restoration Draws on Lenape Symbolism. In one of 2020’s most striking adaptive reuse projects, the Manhattan-based architecture firm inserted a glass dome in the likeness of a tortoise on top of the Union Square building.
Courtesy Francis Dzikowski
All the emissions released in construction, the fossil fuels burned to create raw construction materials and move them to the site, the carbon released in making concrete, trees felled for timber, it’s all embodied in these structures.
Source: 14 Adaptive Reuse Projects from 2020 Show Great Design Doesn’t Mean New Construction – Metropolis
The Cary Towne Center in Cary, North Carolina. (Courtesy Google Maps)
Despite plans to convert the site into a private corporate campus for a wildly successful interactive entertainment company, some of the property—exactly how much remains uncertain as of now—will be reserved for community use, an aspect that Epic is working alongside the City of Cary to realize.
Source: A belly-up North Carolina shopping mall will become Epic Games’s new corporate campus
The aesthetic combines the original Georgian features; exposed beams, plaster, eaves and brickwork, alongside contemporary craftsmanship and modern elements required for twenty-first century life.
Source: Salvage style stands out in this Grade II-Listed Georgian townhouse | Livingetc
Erected in 1914 and originally home to The Prince-Wolf Co. garment factory, the newly rehabilitated 2125 Superior Avenue now consists of a 57-unit, 40,000 square foot mixed-use residential and hospitality site.
DAVID TROYER — Structural Glass display cases recessed into the floor slab provide a unique design feature to showcase original boiler plate doors that were reclaimed during the cSpace King Edward heritage renovation.
In demonstrating the principle of adaptive reuse, Prentice showed a number of pre-and post-construction photos. In the Simmons building the original main floor ceiling was partially removed to allow for an elevator, while the exposed structural elements including the brick walls and heavy timber beams were left untouched.
The thing about constructing with timber, Bates Smart architectural firm director Julian Anderson says, is it’s “a very quiet process” compared to steel and concrete. “Which means the impact on adjacent residents and then also the tenants within the commercial building was pretty minimal.”
Source: Timber unlocks adaptive reuse options for new Melbourne hotel
The Potomac River Generating Station is a former coal-fired power plant that has been dormant since 2012. (Hilco Redevelopment Partners)
“We’re excited about the chance to reintegrate it into the surrounding urban fabric, open up that access to the waterfront and create a really dynamic district with world-class architecture,” said Melissa Schrock, the senior vice president of mixed-use development at Hilco. “We think the city of Alexandria deserves nothing less.”
Source: Berkeley Lab Electric Markets & Policy
An added approach to the blade recycling issue is to focus on the upfront piece — what the blades are made of. Additional research and development is looking into using thermoplastic resin instead of fiberglass or carbon fiber for wind turbine blades. The material may be easier and cheaper to recycle.
Source: Recycling Wind Turbine Blades
The concrete blocks were sustainably sourced and partially made with recycled waste glass and aggregate.
Source: Hauser & Wirth gallery, where adaptive reuse and art thrive
[Photo: Studio One Eleven]
“Many times, for better or worse, these types of developments can help uplift an area and to some extent gentrify an area,” he says. “And I think the most economical way, if an area is going to gentrify, is to get the affordable housing in there first so that the affordable housing developers aren’t competing at higher land costs and there’s already an embedded affordable housing population there.”
Source: How a drab office building was repurposed into gorgeous, affordable ap
More than 20 million tonnes (or megatonnes, MT) of waste was generated in 2017 from the construction and demolition industry – more than a third of Australia’s waste production. And nearly all of it is sent to landfill.
Source: Retrofits versus building new: we need whole of industry change | The Fifth Estate
A view of the skyline-marring old Dawson State Jail in Dallas from the Commerce Street bridge. Reunion Tower can be seen to the right of the building. (Courtesy Trinity Park Conservancy)
As for how exactly the old jail will be reused, that has yet to be determined although restaurants, retail, affordable housing, and administrative office space for the park have all been floated in local media as early speculative ideas.
Source: WEISS/MANFREDI selected to transform former jail as part of massive Dallas park project
View of the gymnasium at the old Sabine High School in Many, Louisiana, one of several facilities that could be impacted by the study.Photo courtesy of Laura Blokker.
The schools, built as part a last-ditch attempt to establish “separate but equal” educational facilities in the state, were abandoned as racial integration began to take hold in 1970, and have sat empty for many years.
Built in 1938, The striking boat has an interesting history; the vessel acted as a North Sea lighthouse up until 2004 when it was converted into a six-bedroom home by its current owner, a photographer.
Source: Explore a modern converted lighthouse home in London | Livingetc
Under plans, the existing Webster Street building will receive new cladding, windows and entranceway.
“The addition of many more trees and trying to remove as much asphalt as possible put an additional cost onto the development team, but these are improvements that will last for decades and has the support of the neighbors.”
The building that formerly housed a telephone exchange and post office at 118 Russell Street, Melbourne, has been converted into apartments. Author provided
Buildings that are no longer fit for purpose, or not required in a new detached working environment, could be repurposed as housing. Empty office blocks, shops and stores and unused teaching facilities could all be recycled for social and community low-cost rental housing.
Source: Unused buildings will make good housing in the world of COVID-19 | Micky News
The Barn, the luxury cottage that’s part of The Pig hotel, Bridge Place, near Canterbury, Kent, England PAUL ALLEN/ANDFOTOGRAPHY.COM
Also, seven charming, double-bedded Kentish Hop Pickers’ huts on stilts alongside the river, have each been made from reclaimed materials.
Source: Safe Stays In Five Luxury Countryside Hotels Reopening From July 2020
Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center was converted from an auto shop into a studio for artists with disabilities; Buffalo’s Northland Workforce Training Center was a former factory that became a site for job training and education; and in Pittsburgh, a Masonic temple became a space for City of Asylum, a nonprofit that supports writers who are threatened in their own countries.
Source: Adaptive reuse projects are happening across the country. Here are som
Peter Cook
‘Think of your house as a bank of materials that can be deconstructed, separated, and reused, and design this in from the outset,’ he says.
Source: Four ways circular economy architecture is future-proofing homes
Drawing inspiration from the history of this remarkable piece of infrastructure, the project will restore and preserve the historical pieces that have been rooted there for over 160 years, which includes the original Beaux-Arts masonry detailing and terracotta ornamentation of the exterior, the wood-framed windows, interior decorative plaster work, the double height main lobby and 106-year old restored marble stone staircase, elevator cores, as well as the double loaded corridor and terrazzo flooring of the
Source: Timothy Soar
In reworking 160 Old Street, Islington, new brick and glass cladding was added but the essential structure was largely retained
To meet the UK’s net zero carbon targets, an increasing number of urban projects are likely to repurpose buildings that already exist rather than replace them with new ones.
Source: Sustainability: Net zero carbon | Features | Building
Above: Built for transporting cargo, the train cars date from the early 20th century and have been fully refurbished for year-round living: each has a sitting room, full kitchen, bedroom, and bath.
Join us for a tour of our favorite attraction, the two antique railway carriages that they converted into storybook guest quarters, each overlooking a lake.
Source: Ultimate Cozy Cabins: Rustic Retreats Made from Converted Antique Train Cars
The Vault Office tenants enjoy ground-floor retail amenities.
The Brookings Institute forecasts that 82 billion square feet of existing space in the United States will be demolished and replaced between 2005 and 2030 – roughly one-quarter of today’s existing building stock. Further, as noted by the American Institute of Architects in its recent statement on climate action, in the U.S. alone nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to carbon produced by buildings during construction and everyday operations. Embodied carbon from construction represents a
Source: Redeveloping, Repositioning Existing Assets for a New Generation – Colorado Real Estate Journal
