Buildings, like many other things, wear down over time, so it’s no surprise that cities and countrysides are home to abandoned lighthouses and misused warehouses. But a rising architectural approach called adaptive reuse offers a way to give a second life to these structures.
It can offer a lot of useful solutions for the surrounding area, like low-income or student housing, community centers, or mixed-use venues. And since the industry is picking up so much steam, we at Bored Panda decided to expand one of our existing series and make a new list of some of the most surprising repurposed properties.
#1 Boekhandel Dominicanen In Maastricht, The Netherlands. A Bookstore In A 13th Century Gothic Church
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#2 Former Olive Mill Turned Into Home In Italy
- Maintains cultural heritage. In areas with historic architecture, adaptive reuse is a form of preservation. It restores culturally significant sites that would otherwise be left to decay or demolished to make room for parking lots.
- Slows urban sprawl. When builders search for new construction sites, they must often choose land further outside of a city center since the land within a city is usually occupied by old buildings or more expensive real estate. This fuels the process of urban sprawl, a term for the unrestricted expansion of urban areas, contributing to air pollution and other environmental impacts, dangerous traffic patterns, higher infrastructure costs, and social isolation. Adaptive reuse offers a counter to this phenomenon.
- Creates a new community beacon. Adaptive reuse architecture is functional and often incredibly beautiful. For example, the Tate Modern art gallery in London is housed in a building formerly known as the Bankside Power Station, a decommissioned electricity plant. Taking an adaptive approach allowed builders to create a unique and beautiful art gallery that is now a cultural attraction in the city.
#3 Waterstones Book Shop – Bradford, West Yorkshire
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#4 My Local Library Moved Into An Old Grocery Store
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#5 The Place Where Julius Caesar Was Murdered Is Now A Sanctuary For Cats
#6 Atocha Tropical Garden In Madrid, Spain. The Building Once Was The Old Train Station Before The Transportation Hub Was Expanded To Include Its High-Speed Train Links
ReplyView more comments#7 The Parking Garage Turned Into 44 Apartments In Wichita, Kansas
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#8 An Old British Telephone Box Which Was Decommissioned From Public Use. This One In Bath Has Been Turned Into A Flower Bed
ReplyView more comments#9 This Old Church Has Been Converted To Self-Catering Accommodation In Scotland
#10 I Converted A School Bus Into My House
ReplyView more comments#11 This Walgreens Is In An Old Bank
#12 My Airbnb Was An Entire House Built Inside A Barn
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#13 These Old Silos In Oklahoma Were Converted To A Rock Climbing Gym
#14 My Apartment, A Converted Church From The 1800s, On A Cold Evening In London
ReplyView more comments#15 The Floor In The Design Building At My College Is The Basketball Court It Used To Be
ReplyView more comments#16 Grand Avenue Mall. The Way It Was Remade Into Apartments Turned It Into A Somewhat Surreal Space
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#17 I Converted A Van Into A Home And Now Work Remotely And Travel Full-Time
#18 This Is The New Life Of A Rescued And Repurposed Gothic-Arch Barn Near Manassas, VA
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#19 The Gym I Go To Is Renovating. They Knocked A Few Walls Down And Revealed It Used To Be A Hollywood Video
ReplyView more comments#20 My Hotel Used To Be A Prison
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#21 This Massive Library In Barcelona Is Built In What Was Formerly A Water Deposit Built In 1874
The pillars and vaults, inspired by the Romans, are this large as the water was held in a pool on the roof
#22 My Apartment For The Night In Porto, Portugal Has A Preserved 12th Century Wall And Staircase Encased In The Bedroom
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#23 This Old School NYC Subway Entrance Got Turned Into A Subway Entrance
ReplyView more comments#24 That’s Cool, But Are We Just Going To Gloss Over The Presumably Spine-Tingling Story Of Why The Side Entrance To Your Lab Has Been Bricked Over For Decades
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#25 Our Table At The Local Cafe Is Positioned Over A Medieval Well
#26 Stayed In A Boeing 747 Converted To A Hostel At Arlanda Airport, Sweden (Jumbo Stay)
ReplyView more comments#27 A Beautiful Old Church Was Converted Into An Awesome Climbing Center, Retaining Original Features Like Stain Glass Windows And An Altar (Manchester Climbing Center, UK)
ReplyView more comments#28 Vermont Converted Barn – Cozy Living Room
ReplyView more comments#29 This Church Has Been Converted Into A Bar
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#30 A Fantastic Looking Building
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#31 Synagogue Turned Into A Café In Trnava, Slovakia
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#32 Juerg Judin House, Berlin, Germany. Was Originally A Gas Station Built In The 1950s
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#33 A Supermarket In An Old Theater In Venice, Italy
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#34 Cozy Converted Church I Stayed In
ReplyView more comments#35 The Carvings Around My Doorframe – 18th Century Converted Manor
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#36 Every Apartment In This Block Has Been Turned Into A Cafe Or Restaurant
ReplyView more comments#37 A Trampoline Park Inside A Former Church
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#38 My Hotel Used To Be A Prison
ReplyView more comments#39 A Grocery Store Inside A 3rd Century Roman Imperial Palace In Croatia
ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#40 One Of Our Local Libraries Moved Into An Old Marsh Supermarket
