The Adaptive Reuse of Warehouse and Factory Buildings into Residential Living Spaces in Wellington, New Zealand

摘要

Adaptive reuse does not only mean successfully putting new uses into an old shell. At bestthe impression is given that a building at the moment of its conversion has finally achievedits true destiny.Constructed during the industrial era, often utilitarian and non-descript in their design,warehouse and factory buildings were constructed to store and manufacture goods. Upontheir obsolescence, due to containerisation, the closure of business, and subsequentdereliction through disrepair or disuse, these largely structurally sound buildings were leftvacant until a cultural movement began in America, converting them into living and studiospaces. The adaptive reuse of these buildings resulted in a new programme, which was toprovide residence and ‘store’ people. Much later, in the 1990s this movement spread toWellington, New Zealand. This delay raises the issue of what makes a successful conversionof a warehouse or factory building to loft-style living space, and through which architecturalapproaches, criteria and methods may we examine these buildings?This thesis first examines pioneering examples of loft and warehouse living in SoHo, NewYork, from the initial subversive beginnings of the movement, when artists illegally occupiedthese spaces. It looks at the gentrification of neighbourhoods and how the loft eventuallyemerged as a highly sought after architectural living space, first in SoHo, New York beforespreading globally to Wellington, New Zealand. Four Wellington warehouse and factorybuildings that were converted into residential living spaces are examined and compared.The aim is to understand the conversion process and necessary strategies required to instil anew architectural programme within an existing warehouse or factory building, recognisingthe unique conditions in such converted architectural spaces.A reused, converted warehouse or former factory can acquire characteristics unique tothat building: a certain patina of age, a residue of industrial history, imbedded qualitiesof surface, a unique architectural structure, as well as the location of the building itself.The case studies show how these imbedded characteristics, can be preserved when thebuilding is converted, thereby retaining the building’s former history while providing a newfunction.This thesis then analyses whether any commonalities and differences in warehouse andfactory living existed between Wellington and SoHo New York, in terms of the evolution ofthe cultural movement and architectural design.The thesis shows that successful approaches to conversion of factories or warehouses canboth save the buildings from demolition, preserve and highlight their heritage and createan architecturally unique space, with inherent qualities that cannot be recreated in a newbuilding. Thus, only upon conversion, can the building gain a sense that it has achieved itstrue destiny.