Transforming Together: Reconsidering Adaptive Reuse

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Date
2013Author
Crenshaw, Emma Elizabeth
Advisor
Noonan, Peter
Simon, Madlen
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This thesis examines the evolving and transforming relationship between building and community. It is a study of the past and present of a community and its architecture in order to propose an adaptive plan for a place that involves the adaptive reuse of a historic building.
Utilizing theory related to vernacular architecture, critical regionalism and phenomenology, a framework for study is applied to a case study. Peckham, a district in South London in England, and one of its former industrial buildings, the Bussey Building, serves as the case-study. Peckham is home for a mixed "fringe" community that is in a process of transformation that is linked to the area's industrial past.
In order to explore sustainability in a more holistic and human way, this thesis posits a question: Can architects design buildings to adapt to a continually changing situation, physically mapping the relationship between architecture and community over time?