At a cost of 20% less than demolishing and constructing new buildings
Recycling old buildings ... an attractive idea to preserve history and architecture
The recycling of some buildings reduces the costs and times of city modernization.
From the source
All cities in the world live in the process of building and demolishing constantly, replacing old buildings and old infrastructure systems to meet the needs of their new residents, and it may be inevitable in many cases, but is there no way to recycle some buildings and infrastructure as we recycle water and waste, for example?
Does this not reduce the costs and timelines of city modernization processes?
And what does adaptive reuse mean?
The term adaptive reuse means the renewal and reuse of old buildings and infrastructure, after they have exceeded their useful life;
Like converting abandoned factories into museums or hotels, converting old containers into homes, or converting old railways into gardens, this concept has become increasingly relevant to the concept of sustainable urban growth.
Environmental impact
The booming construction sector in light of the rapid global urbanization wave contributes to increasing environmental degradation as it is a major source of pollution that leads to climate change, as we are forced to construct more buildings and infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing population, and the air quality decreases due to the use of different machines on construction sites;
It produces massive amounts of waste.
Demolishing old buildings to make room for new ones leads to huge amounts of waste.
Benefits
Adaptive reuse is gaining increasing adoption among architects, builders and developers in light of the growing environmental awareness, as well as the potential cost benefits, of not having to build infrastructure from scratch, while saving massive amounts of materials, construction hours and energy.
Experts estimate that 90% of real estate developers will work over the next decade in the adaptive reuse of existing buildings rather than constructing new ones.
Adaptive reuse reduces the cost of developing new buildings and infrastructure.
Adaptive use in the UAE
For starters, adaptive reuse may not seem to be a strong presence in the Emirates (and the rest of the GCC), given the relative modernity of the country, its cities, and its infrastructure.
However, the UAE has made circular economy and sustainability one of its future priorities, which is what Adaptive Reuse falls under.
The Emirates Council for the Circular Economy was established in the UAE, which is concerned with drawing general directions and frameworks to promote the initiative "Accelerating the Circular Economy 360", which the UAE signed as the first country in the world in a strategic partnership with the World Economic Forum, with the aim of harnessing the potential of technical innovation to accelerate the circular economy. The successful Emirati experiences in the field of adaptive reuse, including the development of (1) Al Mureijah Art Square in Sharjah, which is the site of the annual Sharjah Art Exhibition (Sharjah Biennial), which was established from five ruined buildings, including the Al Qasimia School and the Old Jubail Vegetable Market.
(2) The transformation of the Al Quoz Industrial District in Dubai into Al Serkal Street, which is a thriving artistic and cultural center, (3) and the transformation of residential units in Al Bastakiya, famous for its wind towers, in Dubai into an artistic center.
Here we summarize some recent adaptive reuse trends:
1. Playgrounds to be reused
Winning to host a major sporting event is, in most cases, a remarkable achievement for any city, but building world-class sports facilities is often a very costly project, and in recent decades, these projects have faced criticism from people because they become buildings that actually exceed the needs of society (think In Olympic Games buildings, for example), and by applying the concept of adaptive reuse to the basic building process, architects in Rio in Brazil designed the sports facilities for the 2016 City Olympic Games for reuse in new structures throughout the city.
2. Shopping centers
The UAE is seeking to transform into a leading regional center for e-commerce, and people are increasingly demanding to shop online, so what is the future of malls in the country?
One of the innovative approaches that malls across the United States are using to meet the challenge is to get Amazon to use space as service centers. Helping Amazon improve delivery times by taking advantage of idle retail space is an innovative form of reuse that helps solve Current challenges, and other options include using spaces for temporary stores, or even libraries, medical centers, and homes.
Promising examples
There are a large number of prestigious examples around the world of adaptive reuse;
Among the most prominent are the reuse of the famous Battersea power station in London in a mixed-use project that includes apartments, offices and recreational facilities, the conversion of another London power plant in the Bankside area, into the Tate Museum of Art, and the conversion of an abandoned high-rail line in Manhattan into a hanging park, attracting millions Persons every year;
And the transformation of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing in 2008 into a shopping center.
International playgrounds are being dismantled into schools, and railroads are hanging gardens.
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