Adaptive Reuse: From Pork to Plants (and Drugs)

Adaptive reuse is an important aspect of sustainable presence management. Buildings contain massive amounts of embodied energy and the more we can adapt and repurpose them, the better. The buildings are also repositories of collective memories and histories. As we modify it, these layers in new and interesting ways. This video explores the topic through a case study of “The Plant,” a Chicago food incubator inside a former pork processing facility. The building’s location and existing infrastructure made it an ideal candidate for its new purpose. John Edel, founder of the factory, made every effort to showcase the building’s history and honor its heritage throughout the adaptation process.

Architecture with Stewart is a YouTube trip exploring deep and enduring stories of architecture in all their incredible glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events analyze a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their public understanding and advocate for its importance in shaping the world in which we live.

Stuart Hicks is an architecture design educator who leads studios and lectures as an associate professor at the University of Illinois School of Architecture at Chicago. He also serves as Associate Dean in the School of Architecture, Design and the Arts and is the co-founder of the Design With Company practice. His work has won awards such as the Vanguard Design Award for the Architectural Record or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has appeared in exhibitions such as the Chicago Biennial of Architecture and Design Miami, as well as at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writing can be found in the co-authored book, Misleading Tactics of Fit Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as articles in MONU, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.