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Reuse in practice: the multiple social, environmental and economic benefits of adaptive reuse of existing buildings - curated by the RIBA
Time is not on our side if we are to seriously change the direction in which we are moving in terms of the multiple social, environmental and economic crises that climate change is causing and will increasingly cause over time. As designers, we have a major contribution to make and one of the critical ones is protecting resources and this includes our existing buildings.
In a recent report What’s Old is new; the business case for adaptive reuse by Lori Ferriss, co-founder of the Built Buildings Lab, “the business case for adaptive reuse lies in the capacity of these projects to simultaneously generate economic, environmental, and social co-benefits”.
So, taking a leaf out of the book of architects such as Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal, the first principle should be ‘never demolish’ but seek transformation over demolition.
In this conversation, Chris Williamson, President, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) discusses the practicalities, opportunities and positive outcomes that can be achieved with:
Duncan Baker Brown, architect, academic, environmental campaigner and author of The Reuse Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy
Mina Hasman, Sustainability Director, SOM and Chair, Climate Action Group
James McCosh, Principal, VHH Architects
Curated by the RIBA
