For those who regularly read my posts (Hi Mom!), you will recall a post from months back that discussed CTT’s new location in a cinema-turned-office building. Adaptive reuse and creativity allowed the transformation of this downtown Kitchener movie theatre into open-concept offices with character. As it turns out, Waterloo Region is actually rather good at this adaptive reuse game. The Breithaupt Block has created a good deal of buzz (The Record, The Globe and Mail, Daily Commercial News) as a rubber factory being transformed into workspace for high-tech and creative businesses. There are, in fact, many more examples of this type of adaptive reuse going on in the Region.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the Lang Tannery, the current home to Communitech, The Tannery School of Music, Google, The Firkin Pub and Desire2Learn, among others. The sprawling industrial complex was the largest sole leather producer in the British Empire. It produced saddles during WWI and leather lining for aircraft gasoline tanks in WWII. Operations ceased in 1954 and plans to convert the Tannery into office space began in the 1980s. Though the industrial operations of the building has long ceased, the exposed brick and wood still provide hints of the building’s past life. The project was recently recognized with a Brownie award.
In Cambridge, the University of Waterloo School of Architecture has repurposed the Riverside Silk Mill along the Grand River. The mill was built in Galt in 1919 and remained in use until 2000. Renovations began in 2003 and the school moved in the following year. The project is an example of public-private partnership, urban revitalization and environmental remediation.
The expansion of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in September provides us with another adaptive reuse success story. CIGI’s offices are located in the old Seagram whisky distillery warehouse. The Seagram distillery operated in Waterloo from 1857 – 1992. On that same site, the Seagram Lofts have been converted from industrial space into living space. The presence of old machinery and barrels from the site’s whisky producing past provide a unique style and feel.
Some other notable projects include:
The Cambridge Mill (Grist Mill is transformed into a restaurant)
Bauer Lofts (Carriage factory turned into residential, commercial and office units)
Grand River Brewery (Knife factory reborn as a brewery)
The Kaufman Lofts (Shoe factory becomes residential lofts)
The Lofts on Mansion (From boot factory to townhouses and lofts)
Bread and Roses Co-operative Housing (Former button factory to a non-profit housing cooperative)
Arrow Lofts (Former shirt factory to lofts)
Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty of Social Work (Former school becomes… a school)
Southworks Mall (from a steel factory to a retail centre)
Tiger Lofts (former textile factory to affordable housing)
Galt Little Theatre (former church becomes theatre)
The aforementioned projects are but a sample of the number of adaptive reuse successes in the Region. I could go on, but I should get back to my day job.
Converting old industrial factories into office space is an interesting way to see this Region’s progression from its predominantly manufacturing past (though still a vital sector in this economy) into a vibrant ICT and high-tech cluster. It is a physical representation of this area’s ability to reinvent itself.
cttinc
