Adaptive Reuse
Transforming old buildings for new uses has unique challenges and opportunities. On one hand, the beauty of historic materials that speak to the specific story of a place and its inhabitants can’t be achieved in new construction and preserving existing buildings instead of starting from scratch can produce lower embodied and operational carbon footprints. On the other hand, old buildings require significant upgrades to their layouts, structure, and building systems to meet modern codes and user needs. Future Firm’s process integrates technology (connecting 3D building scans with BIM Models), research (exploring archival and oral histories of a building), and early coordination with trusted consultants to create architectural transformations which honor the past while creating one-of-a-kind spaces for the future.