Architectual Adaptation

Chapels transformed into lofts, old airplanes reborn as railroad apartments, and vacated hangers - with their jets long gone - now shelter community water parks. Humanity’s continued swell and consumption has rendered recycling an absolute necessity, but a few forward-thinking architects see it as more than that: this is recycling as art.

Putting ‘dead’ materials to good use has been on the rise over the last four years. Places like Make and Lifehacker are testaments to this. But these efforts rarely reach the scale of recycling a building, breathing new life into an abandoned cube of glass and steel.

Most of this is owed to the fact that - especially here in New York - things don’t stay abandoned for long. Take the High Line for example. Even more relevant to the notion of recycling structures is profit: the majority of property owners, when confronted with a dilapidated gas station and sound mind, will almost always demolish and rebuild a suite of condos, not an avant-guarde single-family residence.

There are exceptions to the rule: locally, our friends at The Apartment turned an old YMCA - basketball court and all - into a lavish apartment.

Around the world, more and more of these examples can be found reaching an insane conceptual and physical scope:

Particularly absurb examples can be made of the airplane and airplane hanger - both from Europe. I wonder if the ruins we leave behind will ever meet this same quirky fate.

“Before your mother and I lived here, it used to be a Quizno’s. We kept the sandwich toaster, and use it to display her shoe collection.”

Something tells me no.

Ever seen anything like this before? Here in the city? Let us know…

Via WebUrbanist.