I’m looking for case studies on buildings which have reused an existing concrete structure. This could be adaptive reuse projects, but with a focus on reducing new structural work. If there is information on the embodied carbon reduction as a result, that would be another bonus!
This could serve as a cool thread for sharing inspirational projects and ideas.
Thanks!
I don’t know much about it, but in her new BuildingGreen report on Wood and Embodied Carbon Paula Melton talked about Michigan State University’s new STEM building, built on its old coal power plant. Sounds a potentially useful reference.
We did an LCA on adaptive reuse of an old warehouse into an office building. This was a steel structure but the steel members were concrete-encased, so there was still a significant amount of concrete captured in the LCA, in addition to massive concrete slabs. There were very minimal structural additions and modifications, resulting in about 75% savings from its full embodied carbon footprint if the same building was built from the ground up. That said, it reflected a 1940’s design for a very different original purpose - something to keep in mind for adaptive reuse. Here is a peak at the results and here is the full LCA paper.
The Rice Fergus Miller office building in Bremerton, WA is a great example of a super high performance renovation of a concrete structure:
Quinn Evans has done a lot of work in this field (https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/renovation-restoration-and-adaptive-reuse-the-understated-value-of-existing-buildings_o).
Thanks for sharing! The full LCA paper is extremely helpful, I am currently working on a project with a similar scope of work!
Our project at Arizona State University’s Hayden Library reused 95% of the existing structural concrete and opaque precast exterior panel. You can check out more about the project here: https://asg-architects.com/portfolio/hayden-library/. There’s a lot more to unpack in that project’s sustainability story, but our estimate in the WBLCA is that we avoided approximately 9000 MT CO2e for the amount of reuse in the project.
Hello Maja,
There are some interesting examples in Europe , with also ‘lessons learned’ .
If you reply with your mailadress, I will send information.
Best regards,
Ger van der Zanden
Thanks for your willingness to help! I’d definitely still be interested in taking a look into those case studies!
this literature review is relevant:
Reuse of concrete components in new construction projects: Critical review of 77 circular precedents