Adaptive reuse Thesis and Study

  In this thesis of Cristopher Smith he talks about the good aspects adaptive reuse of industrial buildings bring to the community and environment. This is something that is very helpful towards my title. He not only focuses on What is happening in America but decides to focus also on whats happening in the EU and mentions projects such as the Tate Modern in London which use to be an old coal station (power station). Something very related to my title are some main aspects and topics that he talks about. Which are : Keeping expenses to the minimum where possible , keeping out industrial heritage alive and keeping people from excavating new land for property. These are all topics which interest me highly and are also relevant topics on which i could benefit from and would help prove various valid points for why such projects should be implied here in Malta especially. 

In cyprus the authors of a sociology study titled " Questioning the Adaptive Reuse of the Industrial heritage and its interventions in the Context of Sustainability " by Kagan Gunce, Damla Misirlisoy. Both in this study and thesis they both speak about the same thing which all goes hand in hand together. the study mainly focuses on one particular site but in the introduction speaks in general about sustainability, Adaptability and such topics.  

References:

• Smith,C.S,2014,The Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Buildings,Accessed,17/01/2017.

• Günçea,Mısırlısoya, K.G,D.M,2015, Questioning the Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Heritage and Its Interventions in the Context of Sustainability, Vol.5,No.9 Web 19 Jan 2017 
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brief intro on adaptive reuse of old industrial buildings

    This blog will focus on the importance and relevance how adaptive reuse of old industrial buildings could work in Malta.I will be explaining this trough other contributions to this topic which are found in the form of previous thesis’s both from America and Cyprus, I will also discuss articles which show similar projects where old abandoned buildings where reused and reborn by keeping their original form and in certain cases extending to the structure. 

     All over the world many industrial cities which once thrived on the industry are now a days abandoned and are slowly rotting away, thus losing some of our heritage and also space. The industrial revolution is on of the most influential movements as thanks to the revolution These industrial areas where built. This was a big factor of massive urban interventions especially during the 1950’s and 60’s. The growth of the automotive industry meant that workers could now venture to new locations and not situate in the less attractive industrial areas. Nowadays such places if not demolished and rebuilt are left abandoned, my title focuses on restoring the run down industrial building and designing it in a way where it could be habitable. This will mainly work better for tree main things which are : Keeping expenses to the minimum where possible , keeping out industrial heritage alive and keeping people from excavating new land for property. 

References:

• Smith,C.S,2014,The Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Buildings,Accessed,17/01/2017.

• Günçea,Mısırlısoya, K.G,D.M,2015, Questioning the Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Heritage and Its Interventions in the Context of Sustainability, Vol.5,No.9 Web 19 Jan 2017.

Projects regarding adaptation reuse of old industrial buildings

    This project is one of much world wide that struck me most and helps me highly in the way I could re design my allocated site .


   This project was an old furniture factory which was now converted into a family home in Japan. The house is located in the city of Okayama. It's previous use was to store raw materials for a "made to order furniture company."The upper floor was transformed into a large living space with a balcony and they made use of the ground floor into a home and carpentry workshop. The original inner structure which contained of timber pillars and steel beams have been kept on site. there is one aspect about this project i particularly didn't like about it was the fact that there was a crane in the top level which was used to move the wood. This structure was removed instead of incorporating it in the design.

















  This Building in New York was a big inspiration to my title. At the moment the in thing that a lot of people are doing is keeping that industrial theme and re using old things. I was thinking and said instead of imitating objects from the past why not use the actual thing and give the building its own twist?

  This building is about making full use of our space which is left empty and unused for a long period of time. This run down and unused carpark in New York will be brought back to life and above that a residential and commercial building will be built. The thing i liked most about this project was that the designers and architects chose not to demolish the old structure but emend and customise the building to meet their requirements and start the process.






Resources :  Baird-Remba, Rebecca. "Garage To Luxury Apartment Conversion At 152 East 87Th Street Gets A New Rendering - New York YIMBY". New York YIMBY. N.p., 2017. Web. 13 Jan. 2017.

references : Jones, Jessica. "TT Architects Transforms Furniture Factory Into Family Home In Japan". Dezeen. N.p., 2017. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.

MEPA merger

The MEPA a.k.a Malta Environment and Planning Authority was responsible for land use planning and environmental regulations on the island. According to the "Times Of Malta " back in July 2015 the government published 3 bills regarding the split of MEPA. The split was proposed that instead of one MEPA their will be two entities, the PA and the ERA.

The PA stands for Planning Authority as stated by the PA website the entity will :

"-The New Planning Authority secures a balanced and sustainable environment for our community and provide a better quality of life through a sustainable land use planning system.

-The Authority ensures integrity, fairness and transparency across all operations through an Independent appeal and review process.

-The new Authority gives greater emphasis to the quality design of new developments and has even setup a design advisory committee to assist the Planning Directorate when evaluating development projects in Urban Conservation Areas and for Major projects.

-The New Planning Authority is giving a voice to residents by having a local council representative sitting on the new Planning Board, for major development applications."

They also stated that we will have " better planning for today and tomorrow."

The ERA stands for the ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE AUTHORITY. From their website they are stating that :

"Our Mission:

"To safeguard the environment for a sustainable quality of life"

Our Goals:

-To mainstream environmental targets and objectives across Government and society.

-To take the leading role in advising Government on environmental policy-making at the national level, as well as in the context of international environmental negotiations.

-To develop evidence-based policy; backed by a robust data gathering structure.

-To draw up plans, provide a licensing regime and monitor activities having an environmental impact and to integrate environmental considerations within the development control process." 

The separation of MEPA has its good and bad,obviously the government is in favour and says that it is the way forward as when MEPA was running the time was much longer an now with the de merger it takes around 30 days for a permit to go trough.

On the other hand the government said that is divesting itself of all environmental responsibilities. 

Resources :

 Ltd, Allied. "Mepa Split: ‘We’Re All In For A Rough Ride’". Times of Malta. N.p., 2017. Web. 8 Jan. 2017.