The vacant industrial historic building at 145 Globe Street within the Jewelry District in Providence, Rhode Island is designated one of the ten most endangered historic properties in the city. After surviving many stalled plans for renovation there are no efforts underway to save it, and deterioration from natural elements and vandalism continues. Many Industrial heritage buildings wait in a similar limbo. When there are no definite plans for renewal, often these buildings are left vacant for years without routine maintenance, causing severe damage and posing a threat to public safety. These buildings should be used as a resource in urban planning, rather than a problem, as they adjust well to swiftly changing occupancy.
Contemporary society is in constant flux. Architecture should break the traditional fixed pattern toward a perpetual malleability to adapt to the transition of functions quickly. Compared with other architectural typologies, industrial historical buildings generally have more open and organized spatial conditions. It is necessary to develop a system of flexible architecture within historic industry structures to support temporary use, which provides an active transitional construction by adaptive reuse of industry landmark buildings in the urban regeneration.
By applying reversible materials, temporary-use spaces will be quickly built and moveable to suit different programs and functions. The flexibility in the reuse of industrial heritage buildings will make more public the architectural heritage in the city, to accommodate different purposes of use and promote the city’s positive development.
At the host building at 145 Globe Street, temporary use will promote a creative art therapy community center, by applying a flexible spatial transformation system based on multifunction, with the intention of changing the original severe manufacturing spatial pattern into one of accessibility, healing & community. Its flexible presentation will bring new vitality and development opportunities to the historic district and city as a whole
