Reading “Big Box Reuse” by Julia Christensen – Chapter 6
Chapter 6 looks at repurposing a Kmart building in Austin, Minnesota into a combination museum and corporate headquarters/office space. Unlike previous examples in the book, this one was done as a design competition between four architectural firms with relatively open-ended paramaters.
In the end, there has been extensive renovation of the exterior lands and surfaces. Interestingly, however, the lack of exterior light made the interior designs for the museum actually work better — they had total control over the look and feel of the exhibits, including lighting. For the office area though, large windows were cut, and skylights added. And, everything in the office space is movable. Walls, furniture, everything. Giving them a healthy amount of dynamism.
Overall, though, the most interesting part was that while they kept the “building” structure, the resulting look and feel makes it look like anything BUT a big box store. Different roofs with slopes, bricks added to the exterior, etc., all hide the original look and feel. Yet the building is relatively the same place, at least structurally.
