Obsolescence as Opportunity: A Case for Adaptive Reuse of Century Old Industrial Architecture, Saint John, New Brunswick

Abstract

This thesis explores adaptive reuse architecture as a strategy for reviving small-scale turn of the century industrial buildings located in historic urban centres. Through urban analysis, this research develops an approach and tool kit for the design of scalable rehabilitation approaches particular to the adaptive reuse of modest industrial structures.

The proposal centers around an argument that these vacant, underused, and obsolete century old, everyday buildings are an opportunity to utilize our existing built resources and that the retention of buildings from this period promotes urban strengthening, encourages revitalization, plays a vital role in developing sustainable communities and combats climate change, as well aids in the linking of a city’s past to its future.

The Canadian maritime city of Saint John, New Brunswick is used as a testing environment due to its small urban district and the dense concentration of historically significant industrial structures.