The Possibilities for Conversion and Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Facilities into Residential Dwellings

Abstract

The restructuring of the economy has led to the relocation of industries from certain areas and in some cases even complete extinguishing of certain activities. This phenomenon has left behind a large number of abandoned sites and buildings. Today, these buildings represent a significant percentage of the architectural heritage, which has been largely neglected and which could be used for the formation of new residential areas in the already defined urban fabric. Conversion of these buildings trough the adaptive reuse into residential ones could solve the problem both of obsolete and housing shortage market. The papers points out the significance of this process and analyzes the possibility to reuse industrial facilities into residential dwellings. In addition the paper discusses in which case such transformation would be legit, through the consideration of a large number of architectural criteria necessary for the success of adaptive reuse to host the housing function. Advantages and limitations of industrial facilities as well as potential problems that can occur are analyzed within this paper.