Carol Berens - Redeveloping Industrial Sites: A Guide for Architects, Planners, and Developers

Table of Contents

Writing is said to be a solitary experience; however, writing a book requires the help and support of many people. For their encouragement, valuable comments and suggestions, I would like to thank Julie Pecheur, Judith Bing, Ellie Becker, and Tom Doramus. Jacqueline and Dick Loehr patiently listened to me and also trudged out to take some photos. Paula and Philip Forman were, as always, stalwart supporters, and Anne Asher, Patricia Zedalis and Michael Strasser continually encouraged me. My travels would have been much less enjoyable and productive if it werent for the kind generosity of Diederik and Dana Advocaat in London and Bert and Malou Bakker in Amsterdam. In Paris, Patricia Bungener was always ready to set out to explore a new project. Patrick Weiller, Caroline and Jean-Francois Kindermans played hosts, guides, and translators in my journeys.

I greatly appreciate those who shared with me the details of their projects and the long paths to completion. Their recounting of the vagaries of the market, the endless public sessions, and the deadlines almost missed supplied invaluable information and conveyed the commitment required to undertake these projects. T. Allan Comp explained the complexities of establishing AMD&ART in Pennsylvania and the roles his impressive team played. Sarah Parker and Wendy Holmes of Artspace expressed their enthusiasm for and knowledge of creating artist housing. Tom Meyer and Jeff Scherer of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd. outlined the perseverance required to sensitively renovate historic industrial structures to enhance todays use, while Ligeia Uker kindly endured my requests for images. John Grady at the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation explained the redevelopment process of converting a naval base to become a new part of its city. Anath Ranon of Cho Benn Holback + Associates Inc. patiently led me through the renovation of the flamboyant American Brewery building into a center for Humanim, and Henry E. Posko, Jr. and Cindy Plavier-Truitt of Humanim described the nail-biting experience of being first-time developers. Kara Cicchetti of the Architectural Heritage Foundation helped me understand how the renovation of the Washington Mills Building No. 1 was achieved. The enthusiastic recountings of Emma Keyte at Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Richard Bevins of the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Wales, made their project come alive. Aurle Cardinal of the Groupe Cardinal Hardy explained how Montreal approaches redevelopment and the transformation of its waterfront, while Eve-Lyne Busque shepherded the images for me. The team at West 8Adriaan Geuze, Jerry van Eyck, Nicolette Pot, and Dianne van Essenuntangled the story of the redevelopment of Amsterdams Eastern Harbor. Regina Meyer explained the massive rezoning process in Brooklyn, and Brian Coleman and Paul Parkhill of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center traced the history of their development efforts to protect industry in a corner of Brooklyn. Tim Jones of Artscape in Toronto shared the importance the support of art and artists to his city, and Liz Kohn helped greatly in finding the images to support that claim. Norman Hotson of Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden architects + urbanistes remembered how the design and planning ideas embodied in Granville Island were new and untested at the time and Noreen Taylor helped unearth some old images. Steve Soler of Georgetown Land Development Co., LLC explained how he worked with the local community to seek approvals. Scott Erdy from Erdy McHenry Architecture shared the urban vision of the developer of Piazza at Schmitds and Kristine Allouchery helped me with the images. Tom Ogara, a local developer, and Dan Reardon of the Trust for Architectural Easements walked me through a project that showed that it is as economical to renovate as to tear down.

In addition, I am indebted to all those individuals who went out of their way to help me with photographs and permissions: Dana Kelly of Bruner/Cott & Associates; the Mairie de Noisiel, France, and Nestl France S.A.S.; Fiona Small of Urban Flash and Richard Cooper from Photoflex Studios; Lisa Ries from the Albert Kahn Family of Companies; Ellen Flanagan Kenny with Cummings Properties; Mikko Heikkinen of Heikkinen-Komonen Architects; Caroline Leroy at the Pavillon de lArsenal; Mathieu Gnon at the ville de Nogent sur Marne; Stefania Canta at Renzo Piano Building Workshop; Timothy Sullivan at Design Collective, Inc; Iwan Baan and the Friends of the High Line; Paul Januszewski; Ronald L Glassman; Emily Winslow at Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center; Richard Johnson at the Torpedo Factory; Ron Solomon; Michael Van Valkenburgh and Adrienne Heflich from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.; Jeroen Hendriks of cepezed; Karen Utz at the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark; Galia Solomonoff and Steven Harper of Solomonoff Architecture Studio; Andrew Zago and Laura Bouwman from Zago Architecture; Jo Oltman with Cambridge Seven Architects; Annie ONeill; Brian Rose; Silke Schmidbartl at Latz + Partner; Shelley Seccombe; Lara Swimmer; Scott Fraser at Granville Island; Porter Gifford; Rob Watkins; Kevin Weber; Teresa Lundquist; Jill Slaight with the New-York Historical Society; and last but not least, Philippe Besnard.

In New York City, along the Hudson Rivers edge where longshoremen once unloaded cargo and scows plied the waters, golfers now practice their drives and bikers cycle. In London, contemporary art hangs in a former power station. In Omaha, lofts and studios echo with the sounds of rock bands, not livestock. Throughout America and Europe, where smokestacks and warehouses once defined neighborhoods and even cities, today shade trees overhang park benches, museums attract streams of visitors, and new housing and office buildings bustle with activity.

For the last several decades, industry has been leaving the metropolitan centers of America and Europe in search of cheaper or more efficient places to produce goods. The swaths of derelict land and crumbling buildings left in its wake challenge architects, planners, politicians, and all those who are interested in the vitality of their cities. Redeveloping Industrial Sites describes the strategies that cities, towns, and determined individuals have used to turn their formerly uninhabitable and economically bereft land and buildings into parks, cultural destinations, commercial complexes, and vibrant neighborhoods.

Headlines mourning industrial abandonment have an eerie similarity; stories of reinventions, too, though varied in design and use, are related in process and intent. These projects show how three powerful forces guiding development todayenvironmental concerns, renewed urban cores and historic preservationwork together to redefine the post-industrial city. The many successful strategies recounted in Redeveloping of Industrial Sites have entailed decades of effort, multitudes of consultants, and concerted political will, to say nothing of extensive financial resources.

Although the course of industry has never been static, after WWII the advent of multi-laned highways swept industries from densely developed cities toward more sparsely populated suburban and rural areas where new industrial facilities had acreage over which to spread out and easy transportation access via the new arterial networks. Container ships demanded deeper, more mechanized ports than the traditional harbor cities could provide. It became cheaper to manufacture goods beyond the shores of America and Europe for consumption at home. Industrial ruins soon pocked cityscapes. Abandoned buildings with broken windows sagged amid the weeds on their bleak, forlorn grounds. Rotting piers silently testified to the past dynamism of waterfronts. Cities, former economic powerhouses of production and trade, reeled from these physical and financial blows. Cities, however, have proven more resilient than the naysayers warnings.