Reconstruction Blog
Old Chicago warehouse retrofitted as urban aquaponics farm
An old meatpacking warehouse in Chicago is being turned into an urban aquaponics farm. Called “The Plant,” the facility is already operating as a fish hatchery, hydroponic garden, commercial kitchen and brewery for both beer and kombucha tea. The waste from one part of the farm serves as raw material for another, making it a net-zero system.
Iconic UN campus in New York undergoing major renovation
The 17-acre United Nations campus along Manhattan’s East River is undergoing a $1.87-billion refurbishment. Plans call for the mid-century modernist General Assembly to be stripped back to its concrete walls, upgraded to 21st-century standards of safety, security, and accessibility, and then reassembled according to preservation standards. The work has to be halted occasionally so that the Security Council can deal with urgent matters.
$2.5 billion healthcare project in San Francisco gets key approval
The proposed $2.5 billion California Pacific Medical Center project cleared a major hurdle when San Francisco’s Planning Commission approved its final environmental impact report. Requested exemptions to city planning codes also passed. The center aims to build and renovate five facilities across San Francisco including a new 555-bed hospital on Cathedral Hill. The facility’s Davies campus would be renovated as a four-story neuroscience institute.
Delta spending over $1 billion on New York airport renovations
Delta Airlines broke ground on a $160 million renovation at LaGuardia Airport last week. The improvements include building a connector between Terminals C and D. In addition, the carrier is investing about $1.2 billion at JFK Airport to tear down Terminal 3, the old Pan American terminal, and expand into a renovated Terminal 4. Other airlines have spent big on New York’s airports in recent years. American Airlines put $1.3 billion into Terminal 8 at JFK Airport, a project completed in 2007.
Industrial adaptive reuse projects show surprising ways to repurpose old structures
A half dozen adaptive reuse projects featured in this article demonstrate creative repurposing of old industrial buildings. The projects include a never-used nuclear power reactor turned into an amusement park, a defunct factory converted into a glittering museum space, a historic water tower transformed into a living space, and an iconic power station converted into carbon-neutral apartments, offices, and parks.
Tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., in $300 million reconstruction boom
Devastated by a tornado about a year ago, the community of Joplin, Mo. is being rebuilt at a torrid pace. About 640 permits for new homes and 2,982 permits for residential repairs and rebuilding projects have been issued since the tornado, representing more than $300 million worth of reconstruction.
New rehab trend: repurposing vacant malls
The new fashion for mixed-use developments or outdoor shopping centers that are designed to look like a friendly downtown is taking its toll on the enclosed mall. Many cities and suburbs have dead and dying malls on their hands.
Some organizations are repurposing dead or dying malls. Rackspace, a San Antonio company that offers cloud-computing and web-hosting services, converted a vacant mall into a new headquarters for more than 3,000 employees. The company spent more than $100 million gutting and redoing the space.
Replacement of University of Iowa’s fine arts campus to cost over $400 million
The replacement cost for the University of Iowa’s fine arts campus, which was devastated by a 2008 flood, will be $404.9 million, according to the Iowa Board of Regents. Total flood damage from the flood is expected to top $1 billion at the Iowa City campus.
White roofs reduce surface temperatures more than 40 degrees compared to black roofs, study finds
Retrofitting a black roof surface to white reduced peak rooftop temperature in New York City by 43 degrees Fahrenheit, on average, during the summer of 2011, according to a new study published online at Environmental Research Letters. The study was the first long-term effort in New York to test how specific white roof materials held up and performed over several years.
Perkins+Will’s renovated Atlanta office is North America’s top LEED Platinum project
Perkins+Will’s new Atlanta officeis the current highest-scoring LEED Platinum project in North America under the 2009 version of LEED -NC. The building, originally constructed in 1985, minimizes energy use by 58% and potable water use by 78%. Exterior renovations included energy efficient exterior glazing, alterations to the front facade, a new 5th floor terrace for meetings and social events, and a garden for employees.
