Building Reuse: Building Reuse Sustainability, Preservation, and The Value of Design

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B U I LD I N G
M ER LI N O
REUSE
The construction and operation of buildings is
responsible for 41 percent of all primary energy
use and 48 percent of all carbon emissions,
BUILDING REUSE
and the impact of the demolition and removal
of an older building can greatly diminish the
advantages of adding green technologies to new
Sustainability, Preservation, construction. In Building Reuse: Sustainability,
Preservation, and the Value of Design, Kathryn
and the Value of Design Rogers Merlino makes an impassioned case that
truly sustainable design requires reusing and
KATHRYN ROGERS MERLINO is associate “A concise, compelling survey rich with insights “An essential text and inspiration for anyone trying K ATH RY N R O G ER S M ER LI N O reimagining existing buildings. Additionally,
Merlino calls for a more expansive view of
professor of architecture and director of the and real-world examples from across Washington to shape a healthy world by addressing human
preservation that goes beyond keeping only
Center for Preservation and Adaptive Reuse State, Merlino’s study makes a strong case for the habitats. Beautifully written and researched with
the most distinctive structures based on their
in the College of Built Environments at the many ways reusing older buildings improves case studies that demonstrate the amazing power
historical and cultural significance to embrace
University of Washington. neighborhood character, spurs economic growth, of design.”
the creative reuse of even unremarkable
and fosters environmental sustainability. Read, use, —JEAN CARROON, FAIA, LEED Fellow,
buildings for their environmental value.
and reuse this book!” Goody Clancy Architects
Building Reuse includes a compelling range
—STEPHANIE MEEKS, President and CEO,
of case studies — from a private home to an
National Trust for Historic Preservation, and “Merlino marshals evidence from an impressive
eighteen-story office building — all located
coauthor of The Past and Future City: How Historic variety of sources and cases to critique the discourse
in the Pacific Northwest, a region with a long
Preservation Is Reviving America’s Communities about building value. She adds an important
history of sustainable design and urban growth
voice to the chorus of practitioners and scholars
policies that have made reuse projects feasible.
“A welcome addition to the growing dialog on advocating reuse.”
Reusing existing buildings can be challenging
stewardship of the built environment. The —RANDALL MASON, School of Design,
to accomplish, but changing the way we think
detailed case studies provide meaningful insights University of Pennsylvania
about environmentally conscious architecture
to an underappreciated and often overlooked
has the potential to significantly reduce energy
sustainability strategy.”
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN SOLUTIONS consumption, carbon emissions, and waste.
—ROBERT YOUNG, author of Stewardship of the
FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Built Environment: Sustainability, Preservation,
Jacket photographs: (front) The Kolstrand Building, and Reuse
Seattle, Washington (Photo by author). (back) Interior ISBN 978-0-295-74234-2
of the SIERR Building at McKinstry Station, Spokane,
90000
Washington (Photo courtesy of McKinstry). UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
Seattle
9 780295 742342
Printed in South Korea www.washington.edu/uwpress
Merlino-jkt.indd 1 3/2/18 11:10 AM

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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
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SOLUTIONS FROM THE

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PACIFIC NORTHWEST
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Architects of the Pacific Northwest have been celebrated for
a long-standing respect for the environment and a holistic
view of our place in it. This series spotlights innovative
design achievements by contemporary Northwest architects,
and supporting consultants, whose work reinforces core
principles and ethics of sustainable design. Reflecting
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cross-disciplinary inspirations ranging from environmental

sciences to sociology and systems biology, the pioneering
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buildings and technologies profiled in this series share

common aesthetic and social goals. Promoting maximum
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energy efficiency through extensive use of recycled

materials and minimal dependence on mechanical systems
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for heat, ventilation, and waste management, these works

demonstrate a profound and enduring love of the natural
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world and its ecological systems.
Studio at Large: Architecture in Service

of Global Communities
of
by Sergio Palleroni, with Christina

Eichbaum Merkelbach
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Toward a New Regionalism:

Environmental Architecture in
as
the Pacific Northwest

by David E. Miller
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Daylighting Design in
the Pacific Northwest
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by Christopher M. Meek and Kevin G.

Van Den Wymelenberg
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Building Reuse: Sustainability,

Preservation, and the Value of Design
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by Kathryn Rogers Merlino

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BUILDING
REUSE
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Sustainability, Preservation, and the Value of Design

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K AT H R Y N R O G E R S M E R L I N O
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University of Washington Press • S E AT T L E
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Building Reuse was supported by a grant from the University of Washington Press
Endowment for Books on the Built Environment, established through the generosity
of Betty Wagner and other donors.
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Additional support was provided by the University of Washington Architecture

Publications Fund.
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Copyright © 2018 by the University of Washington Press

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Printed and bound in South Korea

Interior design by Stacy Wakefield
Composed in Cassia, typeface designed by Dieter Hofrichter
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22 21 20 19 18 5 4 3 2 1
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
of
University of Washington Press

www.washington.edu/uwpress
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Merlino, Kathryn Rogers, author.
as
Title: Building reuse : sustainability, preservation, and the value of design /

Kathryn Rogers Merlino.
Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2018. | Series: Sustainable design
hi
solutions from the Pacific Northwest | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017048939 (print) | LCCN 2017049814 (ebook) | ISBN 9780295742359
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(ebook) | ISBN 9780295742342 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Sustainable architecture. | Architecture—Conservation and restoration. |
Buildings—Remodeling for other use. | Architecture and society.
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Classification: LCC NA2542.36 (ebook) | LCC NA2542.36 .M465 2018 (print) | DDC
720/.47—dc23
n
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048939

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COVER PHOTOGRAPH: The Kolstrand Building is located just outside the Ballard Avenue
Historic District in Seattle. Challenged with an incredibly tight budget, the building
celebrates the industrial vernacular of the neighborhood while adding additional office
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space, transparency at the street, and lively indoor/outdoor spaces. (Photo by author)
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TO STEVE, MAIA, AND ROMAN

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CONTENTS IX PREFACE
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3 INTRODUCTION
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The Future of Existing Buildings

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CHAPTER ONE
PRESERVATION
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15
Significance and the

Evolution of Value
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CHAPTER TWO
27 CONTEXT
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The Impact of Older Buildings

on Neighborhoods
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CHAPTER THREE
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35 METRICS
The Value of Existing Buildings
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CHAPTER FOUR
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49 ENVIRONMENT 123 The Saranac Hotel

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Greening Existing Buildings 133 Hotel Modera

143 The Wing Luke Museum
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CHAPTER FIVE
of the Asian Pacific
69 WASTE American Experience
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Construction and 155 Miller Hall, Western

Demolition Debris Washington University
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163 Walla Walla Bungalow

CHAPTER SIX
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171 Edith Green–Wendell Wyatt

79 SUSTAINABLE Federal Building
REUSE CASE
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STUDIES 181 The Supply Laundry Building

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83 The SIERR Building 191 The Kolstrand Building

at McKinstry Station
201 Westside School
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95 The Russell T. Joy Building

105 Cherry Parkes 211 INDEX
111 The Rice Fergus Miller

Office and Studio
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PREFACE
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THIS BOOK HAS changed dramatically since I began it several years ago,
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as has the city in which I wrote it. In the past few years alone, Seattle, my
hometown, has been through an intense and dramatic transformation owing
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to a population surge in the region. Construction is everywhere. Neighbor-

hoods have been lost in whole or in part and older buildings have been lost
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by the hundreds. This has made the subject of this book even more timely.
While I love well-designed new buildings and realize change is inevitable and
necessary, it is the intersection of old and new in cities that most intrigues
of
me. I am confident we can find a way to let preservation, development, and

sustainability drive the narrative in order to make and maintain beautiful,
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functional, equitable, and healthy cities. This is where I began with this man-
uscript, and where I continue to pursue my academic inquiries.
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Trained as an architect and architectural historian, I have been drawn to

older buildings since I can remember. This interest flourished during my
participation in the Architecture in Rome Program at the University of Wash-
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ington as an undergraduate architecture student under the tutelage of the

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late Professor Astra Zarina and Professor Emerita Trina Deines. I am eternally
grateful to Astra for showing me how to see architecture—particularly, how to
really observe and understand the constructed city as a layered palimpsest,
to
read its past, and appreciate the possibilities it holds for the future. (It cannot
be left unsaid that she also taught me the joy, appreciation, and absolute love
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of cooking.) This adoration of history grew deeper as I moved to Charlottes-

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ville, Virginia, and studied and lived among incredible artifacts of our own
country’s history, which gave me a deep respect for the diverse people who
produced this country’s rich built heritage.
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This book has been, in part, the work of many talented students, assistants,
and colleagues, who gathered research, took photos, and contributed their
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comments on content; I am especially grateful to Kelly Laleman and Kira

Connery for their excellent assistance in initially researching the case studies ix
PREFACE
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for this book. I also thank Patrice Frey, Liz Dunn, Holly Taylor, Barbara Cam-
pagna, Jessica Miller, Amanda Reed, and all the students in my Building
Reuse class who, over the years, contributed greatly to the conversation about
sustainable building reuse, preservation, and design. And I thank Professor
Dave Miller, who, as chair of the Department of Architecture, not only sup-
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ported me in my role in administration as a young, untenured professor but

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also was incredibly patient during the production of this book. I extend my
thanks, as well, to Professor Jeffrey Ochsner, a colleague whose dedication to
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preserving the historic fabric of our city remains forever inspirational, and
whose insights, advice, and assistance have been valuable at every turn of my
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academic career. Great thanks go to my editors at the University of Washing-

ton Press, who made this book possible through very hard work, and to the
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extraordinary editors and designers who made such a beautiful product to

hold in one’s hands.
This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Jim Rogers, who passed
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while I was working on the manuscript. As a talented craftsman, he fostered

my love for architecture and building by letting me hammer, nail, and saw in
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his workshop and fix flashing on the roof of our midcentury home, and by
showing me that I could fix nearly anything myself. The book is also dedicated
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to my generous mother, whose abundant support and love have always been
steadfast and limitless. And I could not ever leave out the best in-laws, Jane
and Ed Merlino, who, as educators themselves, are always interested in and
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supportive of everything I do. The biggest thanks go to my brilliant, patient,

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loving husband, Steve (the real writer in the family—for I would rather draw),
for, well, everything. And to the other two loves of my life, Maia and Roman,
for being the most intelligent, compassionate, extraordinary children a par-
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ent could ask for.

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BUILDING
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INTRODUCTION
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The Future of Existing Buildings

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Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings.

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New ideas must use old buildings.

The Saranac Building in
Spokane, Washington, —Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of American Cities
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a former single-room-
occupancy hotel, now
houses office, retail,
Buildings are one of the largest and
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and entertainment
B U I L D I N G S M AT T E R .
spaces. A new addition most expensive products of human action, both economically
is fastened to the
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older building with and environmentally, and they have an enormous impact on
seismic reinforcements our daily lives. Our buildings provide shelter, places to work,
(which protect the
sleep, eat, and play, and they affect us with their style, form,
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older building from

earthquake movement) color, materials, and space. But they also embody the cultural,
and is topped by a solar
array that distinguishes social, and historical narratives of our diverse society, helping
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the building in the

us remember and understand our past and connecting us to
urban skyline.
(Photo by author) our present communities. 3
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This book is about the value of adapting existing buildings for reuse, and
about the premise that building demolition should be, not the first option
in new development, but a last resort: for once a building is gone, it is gone
forever, and with it goes its history, culture, and material value. Defining the
effect of buildings, Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings, and
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afterwards our buildings shape us.” At the core of his message is the value that
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buildings bring to us. Buildings are the vessels that contain the narratives
of our lives, and the places we inhabit meaningfully are the ones we return
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to over and over. The vast majority of buildings we use daily are older ones
that have evolved with use and have acquired meaning over time. Existing
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historic and older buildings, are the physical embodiment of our past and
experiences, and their accumulation of age and memory is a patina we relate
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to as human beings. Unlike newer buildings, older buildings give us a sense

of perspective on our shared time in the world.
Before author Stewart Brand wrote How Buildings Learn, he asked people
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what makes a building become something important in their lives—in other

words, what makes a building loveable? The most common answer was age.1
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But how old does a building have to be before it becomes loveable? Answers
to this question vary greatly and are not easily understood. Age has often
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been the starting point in determining buildings’ historic value or signifi-

cance. The age that officially qualifies a building to be considered “historic” is
typically fifty years, but buildings as young as twenty-five years can also qual-
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ify as “historic” in some places. I argue that buildings officially designated as

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“historic,” and those that are not, are valuable resources in a community.
For the purposes of this book, the terms existing buildings and older build-
ings simply mean “older buildings already in place,” as opposed to “new con-
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struction”; the term historic buildings refers to those that have been officially
designated as such, based on established historic preservation criteria. His-
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toric buildings, of course, are critically valuable to our cultural narrative and
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enhance our understanding of historic events, people, design, and culture.

However, buildings designated as historic are a very small minority of our
existing building stock, so much of the focus will be on the larger mass of
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existing buildings and the tremendous value they embody despite their lack
of formal designation as “historic.”
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In this book I also discuss the aggregate impact of buildings as parts of

4 streets, neighborhoods, communities, and cities. Buildings are rarely isolated
INTRODUCTION
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artifacts. Rather, they contribute to a larger context in which they play a crit-
ical role in developing the vitality and character of a community. Currently,
we are facing unprecedented growth in regions throughout the United States;
in cities like Austin, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle, neighborhoods are
changing rapidly as new buildings are constructed to meet commercial and
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residential needs. As a result, we’ve seen widespread demolition of older and

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historic buildings and neighborhoods.2 While cities must find ways to accom-
modate growing populations, there is no doubt that the character of commu-
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nities is affected profoundly by the loss of so many older buildings, and that
the historic narrative of these places is quickly disappearing.
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Since the latter half of the twentieth century, when the urban renewal
period in American cities began, there has been an ongoing debate about
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the value of retaining older buildings. Author Jane Jacobs has asserted that
new, large-scale development that replaced richly textured blocks of small,
mixed-age buildings with blocks of much larger, new structures drained
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life from neighborhoods spatially, socially, and aesthetically. She also argues
that older buildings provide critical space for a healthy mix of income levels.
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Today, after decades of advocacy by preservationists and community groups,

Jacobs’s ideas are widely accepted and in some cases are supported by data-
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driven research.
However, preserving buildings for their economic, cultural, and histor-
ical characteristics is only one part of the story. Reusing existing buildings
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also makes a major contribution in the fight against climate change, because
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our buildings are artifacts that consume vast amounts of energy and mate-
rials, both in their construction and in their operation. In the past decade, as
reducing our impact on the environment has become more important to us,
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addressing sustainability by rethinking how we can make new buildings and

infrastructure more efficient has been one of our most important goals. And
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in response to the growing need to build and operate buildings sustainably,

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the construction market has transformed: a 2015 report shows that more than
53 percent of architectural firms in the United States are building “green.”
This is a 40 percent increase over 2012, and a proportion that will continue to
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grow over the next two decades.3

With both NASA and NOAA declaring 2016 the warmest year ever recorded,
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we must conclude that climate change is happening.4 And though much

attention has been given to the roles of transportation and industry in this, 5
INTRODUCTION
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buildings are the greatest contributors to climate change globally. In the
United States alone, the construction and operation of buildings are, together,
responsible for 71–76 percent of all electricity consumption,5 41 percent of all
sources of energy use,6 and 3 billion tons of raw material consumption: 40
percent of raw stone, gravel, sand, and steel, and 25 percent of virgin wood.7
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Construction and demolition of buildings are responsible for the generation

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of a large volume of waste, amounting to 25–40 percent of all municipal solid

waste sent to landfills.8 Furthermore, the construction and operation of build-
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ings result in the production of 48 percent of all carbon (CO2) emissions.9 The
construction, demolition, and ongoing operation of buildings constitute a
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critical part of the problem and, therefore, part of the solution. Given these
consequences for the environment, it is certain that the building industry has
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the potential to make a measured impact by reducing the factors that result
in climate change.
In 2003, architect Ed Mazria challenged architects to embrace green design
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practices with his article “It’s the Architecture, Stupid!” which highlighted
just how great a role buildings play in the environmental crisis. And at the
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2006 American Institute of Architects National Conference, Mazria again

challenged architects, this time to design all new buildings to use 50 percent
as
less energy by 2010, and to make them carbon neutral by 2030.10 His article
highlighted how much buildings contribute to climate change, just as the
world was beginning to grasp the realities of the changing environment and
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our impact on it. In many ways, the design industry embraced the challenge:
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sustainably produced materials and healthier products are now more com-
mon, innovative design is making systems more efficient, and buildings are
being designed to take advantage of passive energy systems. More stringent
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energy codes require higher efficiencies; and optional guidelines in the form
of green rating systems such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environ-
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mental Design) and the Living Building Challenge, among others, encourage
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green construction. As new research and better education continue to assist

designers and builders in their efforts to design and build more sustainably,
the sustainable development movement expands further and becomes more
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effective.
However, while advances in green building are important steps in combat-
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ing climate change, there is no question that, over the decades, cycles of unnec-
6 essary demolitions and new “green” construction have been responsible for
INTRODUCTION
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a large portion of the adverse environmental impacts in the world. Although
it has been common since the dawn of building to reuse structures, adaptive
reuse of existing buildings should now be seen as a critical component of sus-
tainable development. New construction—no matter how well buildings per-
form once built—both produces a vast amount of carbon and is responsible
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for the energy and resources consumed in the extraction and manufacture of
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new materials, in their transportation to building sites, and in the process of

construction itself. Negative environmental impacts are also produced by the
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demolition of buildings, and by the transportation and disposal of construc-

tion waste that results from replacing older buildings with new ones. Reusing
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and renewing older buildings, on the other hand, reduces both energy con-
sumption and the waste associated with building construction by reusing the
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materials that have already been excavated, transported, manufactured, and

installed. As existing resources, these buildings hold great promise.
Obviously, not all buildings are candidates for reuse, but the definition
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of how we think about all buildings must move beyond the traditional idea
of historic importance to encompass environmental value. And while it is
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important to reserve the definition of historic for our most exceptional places,
ordinary buildings, too, hold human and cultural value; they also hold envi-
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ronmental value that we can no longer afford to ignore. Thus, the intersection
of preservation, adaptive reuse, and sustainability has created an important
opportunity.
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THE QUESTION OF VALUE

In the United States, the recognition of value in buildings began with the
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identification and preservation of historical structures that had played an

important part of the story of creating our nation. Historic designation usu-
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ally takes into consideration national standards of significance set within

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specific boundaries: to be designated, a building must be proven to be asso-

ciated with an important moment in local or national history, or with a his-
torical individual or group, or must represent an exceptional architectural
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style or tradition. Of course, the question of what should be considered “sig-

nificant” historical and cultural value in a building is often hotly debated
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by owners, historians, politicians, community groups, and other interested

parties. When the terms of significance can’t be established or agreed upon, 7
INTRODUCTION
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it becomes practically impossible to “officially” declare something historic—
and suddenly, the building lacks “value.” For this reason, basing preservation
decisions solely on whether a building has been designated as “historic” sig-
nificantly limits the way we value and preserve existing buildings. In effect,
the word historic saves them, but old or existing does not, and anyone who
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wants to demolish a building can simply argue that the building lacks histor-
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ical significance. Considering that “nonhistoric” buildings comprise the vast

majority of our existing building stock, we need to broaden our definition of
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value if we are to maintain cultural and environmental sustainability.

Attaching value to buildings exclusively for their architectural, cultural, or
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historic significance is problematic in three ways. First, only buildings with

the highest historic status are considered valuable enough to be protected
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from demolition, but this type of building represents only a small percentage
of designated buildings. As a result, the majority of historic designations are
primarily honorific; and while they provide financial incentives for main-
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taining a building’s character and may give it greater stature and recognition,
they do not protect it from demolition. Second, the historic designation pro-
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cess is piecemeal and irregular—and therefore complicated, time-consuming,

and discouraging. The result is that only a small fraction of eligible buildings
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are even nominated, and those that win registry constitute a tiny portion of
the buildings that—by the same standards—would qualify. Finally, attaching
value to buildings exclusively because of their notarized historical signifi-
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cance ignores the fact that all buildings inherently hold value as environmen-
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tal artifacts. They are repositories of extracted and manufactured materials

and represent expended energy and carbon emissions; and as such, they hold
great value as environmental resources. Consequently, while we rigorously
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recycle our paper, glass, and metal, we do not apply this ethic to our larg-
est manufactured artifacts, our buildings. Regarding our existing building
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stock as an environmental resource is essential to advancing any agenda of

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sustainability.
The opportunities that older buildings offer are enormous. Older build-
ings not only have worth as resources of materials but also can be retrofitted
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with energy-efficient technologies for high performance. In fact, some older

buildings already have a head start. Studies show that many older build-
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ings already perform as well as or better than new buildings by many mea-
8 sures. According to a study by the US Energy Information Administration,
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commercial buildings built in the United States before 1920 perform at the
same level as buildings from 2003.11 Other reports have shown that retrofitting
older buildings to the same level as new, green buildings produces substan-
tial environmental savings in the long term. One revealed that it can take up
to eighty years for a new, energy-efficient building to offset the negative envi-
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ronmental impacts of the new-construction process.12

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Demolition, too, has an environmental cost. The past century has seen the
emergence of a building culture that prioritizes tearing down rather than
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reusing and retrofitting. Building demolition rates in our country are stag-
gering. The Brookings Institution reports that between 2004 and 2030, we will
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have demolished and replaced 82 billion square feet of existing buildings

in the United States, nearly one-third of our existing building stock.13 And
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although recovery and recycling of materials from demolished buildings has

increased significantly, it consumes additional energy, is complex, and has
only a minor impact.
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In Giving Preservation a History, authors Max Page and Randall Mason

describe the complicated past of historic preservation in the United States.
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While many people believe the historic preservation movement emerged

after the demolition of Pennsylvania Station in New York City in 1965, many
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of the biggest preservation moments in the United States have been the result
of efforts to save and reuse much less monumental buildings, usually in
smaller communities with buildings of little note.14 However, efforts to pre-
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serve public history and the collective memory of a place by adaptively reus-
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ing vernacular buildings are unlikely to occur often, unless we view these
buildings through the lens of history and in relation to sustainability when
gauging their value.
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The concept of sustainability has long been embedded in the practice of

historic preservation, and now it is slowly emerging in the design world, too,
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through sustainable, adaptive reuse of buildings. The issue is no longer about

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new versus old, but about establishing a dynamic relationship between the
two, revealing the past without sacrificing the future. Over the past decade,
advances in high-performance, or green, buildings have been numerous but
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have occurred primarily in new construction. As a result, the idea of pre-

serving and adapting historic and older buildings has not always been at the
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top of the green movement’s agenda. In theory, this is slowly changing, but
implementation is slower still. A mix of old and new sustainable buildings 9
INTRODUCTION
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is what creates ideal cities, for as Jane Jacobs writes in The Death and Life of
Great American Cities, cities “must mingle buildings that vary in age and con-
dition, including a good proportion of old ones.”15 Together, historic preser-
vation, adaptive reuse, and thoughtful infill development of new buildings
contribute to a sustainable, diverse, and vibrant community.
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THE ROLE OF DESIGN

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Historically, the disciplines of design, preservation, and sustainability have

remained in their respective silos. In fact, historic preservation and design
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often seem at odds, with historic preservation perceived as freezing a moment

in time, not as an instance of designing for an adaptable future. Yet each of
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these disciplines offers much that is of use to the others: preservationists have
always promoted the idea that the repair and maintenance of buildings, and
the application of conservation techniques, can permit a variety of uses for
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generations to come; and architects have the creativity and innovativeness

to design and adapt spaces for new use, often improving, in the process, the
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condition of the original space.

Good design applied to the adaptive reuse of old buildings demonstrates
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that existing structures can yield a building as creative, sustainable, and suc-
cessful as a new one. William Whyte writes, “Architects and planners like a
blank slate. They usually do their best work, however, when they don’t have
hi
one. When they have to work with impossible lot lines and bits and pieces
ng
of space, beloved old eyesores, irrational street layouts and other such con-
straints, they frequently produce the best of their new designs—and the most
neighborly.”16 The generation of architects that saw the emergence of the “Bil-
to
bao effect,” and a rise in what Witold Rybczynski calls the favoring of the “glib
and obvious over the subtle and nuanced,” often produces the most interest-
n
ing buildings when redesigning older ones for new uses.17

Pr
Redesigning an existing building presents a challenge to the typical design

process, and often the best innovation comes from a reconsideration and
improvement of the past. Yet in the design profession, the reuse of existing
es
buildings has never had the same status as the design of new ones. One the-
ory suggests this could stem from the emergence of the architect as single
s
author and artist, an ideal that is still commonly emphasized in studies of

10 contemporary architects and architectural history. It could also be because
INTRODUCTION
5:55 PM
PM
most architecture schools do not typically teach renovation, adaptive reuse,
or preservation of building materials as part of a required curriculum, and
students rarely are taught to thoroughly understand how different building
materials and building construction types age, or how to repair them. This
leaves future designers at a strategic disadvantage, since each one of them
U
will most likely work on an existing building at some point in her or his pro-
ni
fessional career. In Why Preservation Matters, Max Page argues that schools
of architecture need to embrace preservation and adaptive reuse, and he
ve
emphasizes that “until architecture schools demand that students study the
principles and practices of historic preservation, and until they shift their
rs
orientation so most classes are focused around adaptation, reuse, and addi-
tions to historic structures, their dedication to ‘sustainability’ will be empty
ity
rhetoric.”18
Existing buildings offer significant opportunities for the future of sustain-
ability. If architects, builders, and developers are to claim green status, they
of
must embrace the reuse of older buildings as a creative endeavor that is equal
to, and in many cases preferable to, new building design. Through the sus-
W
tainable retrofitting of existing buildings, two fundamental elements of our

built environment are united: historic preservation and environmental con-
as
servation. Building upon our historic and cultural past by reimagining exist-
ing buildings is critical to promoting cultural continuity and our connections
with our past, for our future. By redesigning buildings to be more efficient
hi
and adaptable to changing uses, we become better stewards of the environ-

ng
ment and preserve these structures for generations to come. With good design
and a new environmental ethic of reuse, older and historic buildings can be
perceived not as targets for demolition but as sites ripe for reinvention.
to
NOTES
n
1 Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn: What Happens after They’re Built (New York: Viking
Penguin, 1994).
Pr
2 Emily Badger, “Who’s Really Moving Back into American Cities,” Washington Post, April 1,
2016.
es
3 Harvey M. Bernstein, “World Green Building Trends: Business Benefits Driving New and
Retrofit Market Opportunities in Over 60 Countries,” in Smart Market Report: Design and
Construction Intelligence, ed. McGraw-Hill Construction (Bedford, MA: McGraw Hill Con-
struction, 2015).
s
4 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “NASA, NOAA Data Show 2016 Warmest
Year on Record Globally,” press release, January 18, 2017, www.nasa.gov/press-release
/nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-record-globally. 11
INTRODUCTION
5:55 PM
PM
5 US Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2011 (Washington, DC: US
Department of Energy, 2012).
6 US Department of Energy, Buildings Energy Data Book 2011 (Washington, DC: US Depart-
ment of Energy, 2012).
7 US Environmental Protection Agency, “Buildings and the Environment: A Statistical Sum-
mary,” in Greenbuilding (2009), https://archive.epa.gov/greenbuilding/web/pdf/gbstats.
pdf; US Environmental Protection Agency, “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2010
U
Facts and Figures,” (2010), https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/web/pdf

/msw_2010_factsheet.pdf.
ni
8 Environmental Protection Agency, Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and

Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010 (Washington, DC: Environmental
Protection Agency, 2011).
ve
9 Green Building Workgroup of the EPA, Buildings and the Environment: A Statistical Sum-
mary (Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency, 2009).
10 Edward Mazria, “It’s the Architecture, Stupid!” Solar Today 17, no. 3 (May–June 2003): 48.
rs
11 US Energy Information Administration, Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey

(Cbecs) (Washington, DC: Energy Information Administration, 2003).
ity
12 Michael Powe, Mark Huppert, and James Lindberg, Older, Smaller, Better: Measuring How
the Character of Buildings and Blocks Influences Urban Vitality, ed. Preservation Green Lab
(Seattle: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2014).
13 Arthur C. Nelson, Towards a New Metropolis: The Opportunity to Rebuild America (Washing-
of
ton, DC: Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2004).

14 Max Page and Randall Mason, eds., Giving Preservation a History (London: Routledge, 2004).
15 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961).
W
16 William Hollingsworth Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (Washington, DC: Con-
servation Foundation, 1980).
17 Witold Rybczynski, “The Bilbao Effect: Public Competitions Don’t Necessarily Produce the
as
Best Buildings,” Atlantic Monthly, September 2002.

18 Max Page, Why Preservation Matters, 1st ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 121.
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
12
INTRODUCTION
5:55 PM
PM

Building Reuse: Building Reuse Sustainability, Preservation, and The Value of Design

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SOLUTIONS FROM THE

cross-disciplinary inspirations ranging from environmental

buildings and technologies profiled in this series share

energy efficiency through extensive use of recycled

for heat, ventilation, and waste management, these works

world and its ecological systems.

Studio at Large: Architecture in Service

by Sergio Palleroni, with Christina

Toward a New Regionalism:

the Pacific Northwest

by Christopher M. Meek and Kevin G.

Building Reuse: Sustainability,

by Kathryn Rogers Merlino

Sustainability, Preservation, and the Value of Design

University of Washington Press • S E AT T L E

Additional support was provided by the University of Washington Architecture

Copyright © 2018 by the University of Washington Press

Printed and bound in South Korea

University of Washington Press

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Title: Building reuse : sustainability, preservation, and the value of design /

(ebook) | ISBN 9780295742342 (hardcover : alk. paper)

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048939

TO STEVE, MAIA, AND ROMAN

The Future of Existing Buildings

Significance and the

The Impact of Older Buildings

49 ENVIRONMENT 123 The Saranac Hotel

Greening Existing Buildings 133 Hotel Modera

Construction and 155 Miller Hall, Western

163 Walla Walla Bungalow

171 Edith Green–Wendell Wyatt

STUDIES 181 The Supply Laundry Building

83 The SIERR Building 191 The Kolstrand Building

95 The Russell T. Joy Building

111 The Rice Fergus Miller

to a population surge in the region. Construction is everywhere. Neighbor-

me. I am confident we can find a way to let preservation, development, and

Trained as an architect and architectural historian, I have been drawn to

ington as an undergraduate architecture student under the tutelage of the

of cooking.) This adoration of history grew deeper as I moved to Charlottes-

comments on content; I am especially grateful to Kelly Laleman and Kira

ported me in my role in administration as a young, untenured professor but

academic career. Great thanks go to my editors at the University of Washing-

extraordinary editors and designers who made such a beautiful product to

while I was working on the manuscript. As a talented craftsman, he fostered

supportive of everything I do. The biggest thanks go to my brilliant, patient,

ent could ask for.

The Future of Existing Buildings

Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings.

New ideas must use old buildings.

older building from

the building in the

to as human beings. Unlike newer buildings, older buildings give us a sense

what makes a building become something important in their lives—in other

been the starting point in determining buildings’ historic value or signifi-

ify as “historic” in some places. I argue that buildings officially designated as

enhance our understanding of historic events, people, design, and culture.

In this book I also discuss the aggregate impact of buildings as parts of

residential needs. As a result, we’ve seen widespread demolition of older and

Today, after decades of advocacy by preservationists and community groups,