Sustainability Issues Course
Blog Presentation
Waste Reduction – Redevelopment Project – Dallas West End
Redevelopment, or Re-adaptive Architecture, is a method of recycling existing buildings and turning them into new business, housing, schools, and more. Our very own Fort Worth Campus building is a redevelopment project, taken from the old Sante Fe Railroad building that was built in 1939.
Another well known redevelopment project in the Metroplex is the, now abandoned, West End Marketplace that was built in 1872, that was also established as part of the railroad system through central Texas.
http://www.dallaswestend.org
Redevelopment is defined as, “the act of improving by renewing and restoring; "they are pursuing a general program of renovation to the entire property".1 Re-adaptive architecture is a personal passion of mine. Ever since I was a little girl and visited the West End Marketplace on my first trip to Dallas, I fell in love with not only the idea of reusing existing buildings, but acquiring that character and history that can’t be repeated nor recreated with a new building. Today, as we move more towards a sustainable world, I feel that architects should embrace this practice once again and not only utilize the green principals of redevelopment, but embrace the rich history and uniqueness of buildings built decades, even a century ago. But redevelopment carries another important green aspect that most people don’t think about. An average of 44,000 commercial buildings is demolished in the US each year, and, with that, created over 136 million tons of waste. Right now in our cities, our landfills are comprised of 25% of waste that came from commercial building that were torn down to create a space for a new building. Then, not only is that demolished building waste filling up our landfills and sending toxins into our soil, but it’s introducing that same toxic dust into the air around us! Have you ever seen demolishing companies spraying water on a pile of destroyed building remains? They are introducing the water as an effort to weight down that toxic dust and keep it from contaminating the air around them as they are working. And while that effort may not be futile, that water runoff that is created is introduced into our soil there locally and then goes on to contaminate our waters, via rivers, streams, and drainage systems. Therefore, you can imagine, how much it would benefit us to reuses the existing buildings we have, and redevelop them into facilities we need.
Re-purposing with redevelopment
Another important thing to remember with redevelopment is what is the building made of, what does the building contain, and what can we keep and what has to be discarded? When trying to redevelop a building, and you have had a chance to inspect the buildings construction materials, and you have all your questions above answered, you have to consider, is deconstruction possible. Deconstruction is the process to which a building is slowly disassembled, basically instead of going in with a wrecking ball, you go in with a deconstruction crew and carefully take the building apart, and salvaging what materials you can and possibly reuse those materials in the new redeveloped building. The chart below shows the percentages of waste of various building materials.
http://oikos.com/library/waste/types.html
While there may rarely be an issue with being required to discard certain materials that may now be prohibited, it’s important to make an effort to salvage as much of the original materials as possible, and either restore, refurbish, or refinish those materials. As the chart shows, wood makes up the most percentage of waste by weight, and the second most percentage of waste by volume. Fortunately, wood is also the one to the most salvageable materials. Unfortunately, drywall, concrete, and insulation (listed as other) make up 31% of waste by volume, and 52% of waste by weight, and those materials are not only the most toxic out of all the construction materials used, but are the least salvageable materials in construction. That’s why redevelopment, though can have its complications, is a sustainable way of building in our already congested cities.
As for the West End Marketplace, the district has a rich history and deserves to be preserved as an irreplaceable piece of our North Texas History. What is the history of the West End?
The Historic West End of Dallas is where it all began.
Caddo Indians settled in the area now known as the West End during the early 1800s. By the mid-1800s John Neely Bryan, a Tennessee lawyer purchased their land and opened the first trading post along the Trinity River. A replica of his cabin is now located in the Founder’s Plaza on Elm Street at Market Street.
In July 1872, the Houston & Texas Central Railroad arrived in downtown, attracting manufacturing companies whose warehouses would come to define the architecture of the West End. This railroad crossing made Dallas a major distribution center that led to the development of the downtown business district. The historically preserved buildings in the West End today were once used to support storage and distribution activities for the railroads.
In 1892, the Courthouse, now known as “Old Red,” was built by Dallas County. Newly renovated, the Old Red Museum is a celebration of Dallas history and a premier event facility.
In 1906, the City of Dallas built its first jail in a West End building. Still standing today at 703 Ross Avenue, the original iron bars of the jail cells can still be seen on the windows.
Across the street from the old jail sits the Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse, which itself is steeped in the rich cattle ranching history of Texas.
From these humble beginnings, Dallas would later flourish. While Ft. Worth would be known as “Cowtown,” in Dallas, cotton would become the king only later to give way to the booming Texas oil business.”
http://www.dallaswestend.org/history/
The City of Dallas designated The West End as a Historical District in 1975, and a local developer, Preston Carter Jr., decided to revitalize the area to preserve its history. “Old warehouses and other brick buildings were converted into restaurants and shops. The original Spaghetti Warehouse opened in the West End warehouse district in 1972 and is still one of the most popular restaurants in the West End today.”2
Just 10 years ago, West End Marketplace was a bustling downtown entertainment district for the City of Dallas. For years it brought in jobs, revenue, and revitalization to a once diminished area of Dallas. Crime rates lowered, and local businesses were flourishing. Now, once again, that are has come virtually abandon and only offers the reminiscence of that bustling district during weekend evenings, only utilizing a small portion of time throughout the week. But being a designated Historical District, we can only hope that once again, some day, that building will be redeveloped once again and bring life back to the area.
Hugh Spicer
Resources for this Blog Entry
UTA – Fort Worth Center - http://www.uta.edu/fortworth/about_us/
2. Dallas West End Marketplace - http://www.dallaswestend.org/
1. Wikipedia – Redevelopment - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redevelopment
WordNet Search - http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=redevelopment
Dallas Observer - http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/10/usually_theres_nothing_to_see.php
Oregon Metro - http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=25399
EPA - CHARACTERIZATION OF BUILDING-RELATED CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS IN THE UNITED STATES -- http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/generation/sqg/c%26d-rpt.pdf
Oikos – Focused on Energy Efficient Building and Environmentally Sound Construction - http://oikos.com/library/waste/types.html
EPA – Deconstruction - http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/imr/cdm/pubs/decon_br.pdf
Sarasota County – http://www.scgov.net/environmentalservices/solidwaste/HazardousWaste/documents/CDHazardousWaste.pdf
Rocky Mountain Real Estate Law - http://www.rockymountainrealestatelaw.com/green-building/
It is exciting to see these older buildings being redeveloped as opposed to being demolished. My brother had a birthday party in the old Santa Fe building over 15 years ago. The older buildings have such a character to them that the newer buildings lack. They also add to the culture of the city.
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