Items Tagged ‘Ohio’
Landmark Detroit Shoreway Building Gets Second Chance Thanks to Keen Developer
Synopsis:
The Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland is coming back to life. One project currently under construction in the neighborhood is the adaptive reuse of the former Cheerios Building. The project marks the end of seven years of vacancy and the conversion of a former (illicit) nightclub into four market-rate second floor apartments and five additional first floor storefronts. The neighborhood is no stranger to reinvestment – the refurbished Capitol Theatre serves as an indie movie house and the fringy Cleveland Public Theatre is home to avant-garde plays. The new Detroit Avenue streetscape was completed over a year ago and provides public art, broad sidewalks and street-side landscaping. The conversion of the building will incorporate energy-efficient and sustainable features. High efficiency insulation is used in each apartment, brick from a dismantled patio is being reused, and the landscaping will use drought-resistant plantings. Some units will also have hardwood flooring salvaged from an old gym.
Cleveland’s Galleria Mall Turns Lost Retail Space Into Greenhouse Farm Stand
Synopsis:
As the single-use model for shopping malls slowly fades from the American landscape, new concepts and initiatives will need to be developed to find appropriate, smart uses for the buildings. Many concepts have already been put together and enacted. One such idea has been brought to fruition in Cleveland’s Galleria Mall. After numerous retail shops vacated the building, employees of the Galleria decided to utilize one of the building’s core features – its glass-domed halls. The Gardens Under Glass project intends to create an urban ecovillage with carts of fruits and vegetables grown on-site. Used as both an educational tool and local food source, the concept has great potential for communities with vacant or underutilized malls.
Bryant Arts Center
Synopsis:
History
This 1904 Neoclassical building originally served as Cleveland Hall, the men’s gymnasium, at Denison University. In 1950, a new men’s gymnasium was built at the university. Cleveland Hall then became the women’s gymnasium. The studio art department later took over the building in 1970 when the men’s and women’s athletics were joined in the Physical Education Center. During this time period, the school also used the building for a student union, with dining facilities, a social hall, and meeting rooms.[1]
(Re)Developer
Founded as one of the earliest colleges in “Northwest Territory,” Denison University was originally called Granville Literary and Theological Institution and then Granville College. Landscape architectural firm Frederick Law Olmsted Sons created the “Olmsted Plan” for the campus in 1916 which the school continues to follow.[2]
The New York City architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle was brought on to see the newest conversion through. The firm is known for its involvement with many other historical building adaptive reuses. It was founded with “a different approach to the design of the built environment which focuse(s) on the social integrity of communities and institutions empowering the daily lives of people; their interaction with each other on streets and in neighborhoods; their potential to take pleasure in moving through the city; and their memories and associations with the physical fabric around them.”[3]
Outcome
The Bryant Arts Center is now 45,000 square feet after an intensive adaptive reuse of the original building and additions to the north and east wings. The Center now serves as home to the studio art and art history programs within the Department of Art. The renovation has provided space for studios for ceramics, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and digital media, as well as fully electronic classrooms, open gallery spaces, an art history resource room, outdoor performance spaces, a common area for studio art seniors, and independent studios for faculty.[4]
The facade was retained but the original timber-frame interior has been replaced with a modern steel structure. This provided the school to have the lighting, circulation, and ventilation upgraded. A central four-story atrium was created to connect the floors and provide light through all the levels. Green construction was used on the project and it has been submitted for LEED Silver certification.[5]
Artists, Musicians Take Over Former Wonder Bread Site
Synopsis:
Efforts are underway to adaptively reuse the old Wonder Bread factory in Columbus, Ohio. Wonderland, the newly-formed nonprofit organization made up of innovative entrepreneurs, is undertaking the project to convert 65,000 square feet of the building. “It will combine artist studios, shared office space, band rehearsal and recording facilities, venue and performance space, gallery space, and a mix of start-up and established retail all under one roof. The goal is to provide a resource for artists, musicians, and small businesses to achieve individual success, as well as to establish an icon in Columbus that highlights (its) outstanding local creative industries to the world.”