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Sledge · 09-21-2003, 11:09 PM

Sorry if the topic title is a little dry, but I couldn't think of another way to put it succinctly.

I had a conversation today with a friend who takes architecture classes at RISD, and I realized that the kind of buildings that strike me the most are the ones that were built for one purpose and were reconverted later for another.

For instance, La Musee d'Orsay, an Impressionist art museum in Paris, used to be a train station. You can tell from the construction of the ceiling, and the massive clock on its front face.

Likewise, there's a building here at my university that used to be a small gymnasium. It's since been turned into an academic building. The base floor is still a hard court, and the basketball markings are still repainted regularly to preserve the position of the place. There are chairs beneath the unused backboards, and the room is full of light through the high windows.

Anyway, I'm going to be basing an upcoming creative nonfiction essay on this theme of reconversion. Problem is, my two examples are the only two reconverted buildings I know of. So, since 28,260 heads are better than one, I was wondering if anyone could name me a couple (preferably well-known) reconverted buildings I could maybe use for my essay. Franks.

09-21-2003, 11:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
Sledge Pasture Bedtime	Reconverted architecture Sorry if the topic title is a little dry, but I couldn't think of another way to put it succinctly. I had a conversation today with a friend who takes architecture classes at RISD, and I realized that the kind of buildings that strike me the most are the ones that were built for one purpose and were reconverted later for another. For instance, La Musee d'Orsay, an Impressionist art museum in Paris, used to be a train station. You can tell from the construction of the ceiling, and the massive clock on its front face. Likewise, there's a building here at my university that used to be a small gymnasium. It's since been turned into an academic building. The base floor is still a hard court, and the basketball markings are still repainted regularly to preserve the position of the place. There are chairs beneath the unused backboards, and the room is full of light through the high windows. Anyway, I'm going to be basing an upcoming creative nonfiction essay on this theme of reconversion. Problem is, my two examples are the only two reconverted buildings I know of. So, since 28,260 heads are better than one, I was wondering if anyone could name me a couple (preferably well-known) reconverted buildings I could maybe use for my essay. Franks.