40 Buildings That Got Repurposed For Something Their Architects Probably Didn’t Even Dream Of
It’s not a secret that humans are creative animals. They always find new ways to reuse old stuff, come up with clever solutions to live comfortably in tiny places, or decide to use their unique DIY powers and save the world altogether.
This time we are stepping into the old spaces that look nothing like their previous selves after having had an inventive makeover, from a grocery store which used to be a hockey stadium to a Brooklyn apartment built in an old church. Call it an architectural wonderland because there’s nothing impossible for these incredible minds. We invite all the fellow Pandas to share your ideas for repurposing old spaces in the comments!
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Old Clock Tower Transformed Into A Penthouse
This Former Theatre In Buenos Aires Transformed Into A Bookstore
i would spend hour there, perfect combination of books and architecture
Hotel I Stayed At Was Formerly A Train Station And Had An Actual Train Inside It, With Rooms Inside Each Car
My Friend’s Living Room In Brooklyn, NY. The Apartment Is Built Inside An Old Church
The Building Used For The Swimming Events At The 2008 Summer Olympics In Beijing Was Transformed Into This Dope-Looking Waterpark
Architect Turns Old WWII Era Cement Factory Into His Home
The outside give it more of a castle feel than a factory, looks very open inside. I really like an open floor plan and natural lighting.
I doubt that whoever is rich enough to do this worry about utility bills!
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Yes OK good work here, very good. Mind you I wouldnt like to sit under that hopper at meal times.
I just saw that building and interiors in Westworld III season trailer!
In my opinion, this is one of the very few decent looking things Ricardo Bofill has ever done. Have you seen his other stuff? Bleh. https://www.archdaily.com/795215/ricardo-bofill-why-are-historical-towns-more-beautiful-than-modern-cities/57d7fe98e58ece897b000295-ricardo-bofill-why-are-historical-towns-more-beautiful-than-modern-cities-image
I like it! Not sure how functional some of it would be without exploring the spaces myself. But it gives me M.C. Escher vibes and Escher happens to be my favorite artist... so maybe I am a tad biased lol.
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Interesting, but not practical. How much is costs to heat up this place?
I'm an architecture student that visited this building last month and I just want to clarified that it's not only the architect's home but also his architecture firm.
It looks more like the lobby of an office building, but okay ~
I think this was featured on BP, It is in Spain and done by Ricardo Bofill.
I wonder what the utilities are like. It would take a huge AC or heating system to make it livable I think.
I've seen this a few times and I adore it. It's the juxtaposition of brutalism and lush greenery that makes my heart sing.
Oh, how all the kids 15 years from now are going to say, "When I get a house, no way am I having all white walls, white kitchen cabinets, and grey or white walls." How did this style get started? I can't imagine that everyone in the world loves it, which means people are depressing themselves just to be fasionable. I hate it so much I don't even want to come back to BP. It's in about every 7th post.
Church Repurposed Into Dominicanen Bookstore In Maastricht, Netherlands Is Now In The Top 10 Most Beautiful Bookstores Worldwide
The Liberty Hotel In Boston Which Was Formerly The Charles St Jail
I would book a night there just to experience how it looks and feels.
A 100-Year-Old Church In Spain Converted Into A Skatepark
Waterpark "Tropical Islands" In A Former Airship Hangar In Krausnick, Germany
Old Rusty Ship Turned Into Stunning Building With Trees And Plants
The Walgreens In My Neighborhood Used To Be A Bank And They Used Its Vault As Their Vitamin Section
Some Lucky Bastard Gets To Live In This Church
The Tallest Indoor Climbing Wall Is Inside Of A Repurposed Grain Silo
My College Used To Be A Shopping Mall
My Apartment Building Used To Be A School
Revitalized One Of The Last Remaining Art Nouveau Brewhouses As A Bar, In The Middle Of Fürth Südstadt
It's located in southern Germany. It has a very unique ambiance and it's not only a bar but a first class restaurant.
What Used To Be An Abandoned Church Is Now One Of The Most Powerful Supercomputing Centers In The World
My House Used To Be A Police Station And My Bathroom Is An Old Jail Cell, The Original Window Is Still In Place
Former Power Station Converted Into An Industrial Cafe And Restaurant With Exposed Brickwork And Abundant Planting In Melbourne, Australia
Swimming Pool In Old Church: Netherne, Surrey
Perfect for mass christenings...if the church wants his building back :-)
This Hotel Used To Be A Brewery
My Hotel In Oxford, England Is A Former Prison
Jail Turned Into Events Space In Melbourne, Australia
Court Room That’s Now A Cafe. Cells Are The Toilets. St. Albans, England
FBI Former NYC Headquarters Is Now A Target But They Kept This Safe
This Starbucks Drive-Thru In An Old Car Wash
My House Is A 20,000 Sq Ft 1926 Former Freemason Temple That We Have Been Renovating By Ourselves While Living Inside For The Past 2.5 Years
Church Turned Into A Trampoline Park. The Hague, Netherlands
Much better use than a church lol. Never too old to trampoline.
Ottawa's Jail Hostel, Each Cell Converted To A Two-Person Hostel Room
There was one in Switzerland but seems to be closed now. Pity I think it's an interesting idea
My School’s Library Used To Be A Bank
My Hotel Room Used To Be A Chapel
My Apartment Is An Old Police Station And Still Has The Original But Painted Cell Doors
Former Chruch, Now Home To The Dutch Brewer, Jopen
This Old Pool Converted Into Apartments
If they had some way to leave the pool still usable it might have been even cooler 😎
This Thrift Store Used To Be A Bowling Alley
A friend of mine used our bowling alleys floors when the bowling alley remodeled. His hallway is a bowling lane. I think he bought them.
My Apartment Used To Be A YMCA
This Satellite Lab Used To Be A McDonald's
My House Used To Be A Bank, So We Use The Old Safe/Vault As A Basement
This Grocery Store Used To Be A Hockey Stadium
Sorry for being morbid, but I really hope the grocery store keeps tabs on the stability of that sign thingy...it would be horrible if it fell
The Gym I Go To Used To Be A Bank
A Church In St. Louis, Missouri That Became An Indoor Skatepark
The Subway I Went To Today Used To Be A Bank. Instead Of Removing The Vault They Just Added More Seating Inside
Detroit's Michigan Theatre Repurposed As A Parking Garage
Supermarket In Venice Used To Be A Theatre
Another Church Turned Into A Climbing Gym
Church Repurposed Into A Climbing Gym
We've had a former church turned into a Brewery and Restaurant. And a bank nearby us has been converted into an Island's Taco Bar.
There's an old stone church near me that was converted to a club for 10-20 years but recently was converted back to a church.
There were so many churches changed into something else. Well, my daughter's church used to be a legion hall, then a strip club. When they bought it for a church, the poles for pole dancing were still in the building. Now it's a open-style church, with a full kitchen in the basement, dining rooms, and side rooms that are used for college students to study, relax and have bible classes. Wish I had the photos, as they are quite interesting.
It's shocking about the number of "used to be churches, Temple or chapels"! Where do people go for church nowadays?
Around the world churches are closing for want of members. As a society we are getting less religious - but not less charitable, fortunately.
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Growing up we had a church move into a department store in our mall. The youth loved the still-operational movie theater And my current town has an Ace Hardware in the old skating rink--I like how they kept the original wooden skate floor.
These are incredible, however I would be nervous sitting at the table (with the humongous, heavy "spout" over it) in the converted cement factory.
I like how many jails and prisons have been repurposed. That means there aren't enough criminals to fill them.
Actually most were re-purposed because the old buildings could not be modified for modern security systems and other upgrades it is usually cheaper to build a new prison than spend the extra money retrofitting and partially gutting the old ones.
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It's really cool to see old buildings re-purposed instead of being torn down.
Here in Cape Town South Africa we have the Zeitz Mocca Art Museum which was re-purposed from grain silos. https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2017-09-15-in-pictures-inside-zeitz-mocaa-the-museum-everyones-talking-about/
Old Town Alexandria’s torpedo factory is an art league with studios and shops for artists.
I co-own an old church that we’ve turned in to a Circus School space.
The original post had 48 pic's.. Why not just show all 48 pics instead of 40? I understand taking a post with 100 pics down to top 50 but 48 to 40. Seems odd.
I have always loved the idea of repurposing old buildings. A lot of older architecture is beautiful, and it’s a shame to see it torn down (prime example is Trump tearing down the beautiful Bonwit Teller department store to build his tacky-a*s Trump Tower—-if he wasn’t so bourgeois, he might’ve instead seen value in converting the original building into really unique apartments). Done right, and with respect for the original, conversions can make the new business or living space inside incredibly unique and memorable—-and a vast improvement over the same old same old.
We've had a former church turned into a Brewery and Restaurant. And a bank nearby us has been converted into an Island's Taco Bar.
There's an old stone church near me that was converted to a club for 10-20 years but recently was converted back to a church.
There were so many churches changed into something else. Well, my daughter's church used to be a legion hall, then a strip club. When they bought it for a church, the poles for pole dancing were still in the building. Now it's a open-style church, with a full kitchen in the basement, dining rooms, and side rooms that are used for college students to study, relax and have bible classes. Wish I had the photos, as they are quite interesting.
It's shocking about the number of "used to be churches, Temple or chapels"! Where do people go for church nowadays?
Around the world churches are closing for want of members. As a society we are getting less religious - but not less charitable, fortunately.
Load More Replies... Growing up we had a church move into a department store in our mall. The youth loved the still-operational movie theater And my current town has an Ace Hardware in the old skating rink--I like how they kept the original wooden skate floor.
These are incredible, however I would be nervous sitting at the table (with the humongous, heavy "spout" over it) in the converted cement factory.
I like how many jails and prisons have been repurposed. That means there aren't enough criminals to fill them.
Actually most were re-purposed because the old buildings could not be modified for modern security systems and other upgrades it is usually cheaper to build a new prison than spend the extra money retrofitting and partially gutting the old ones.
Load More Replies... It's really cool to see old buildings re-purposed instead of being torn down.
Here in Cape Town South Africa we have the Zeitz Mocca Art Museum which was re-purposed from grain silos. https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2017-09-15-in-pictures-inside-zeitz-mocaa-the-museum-everyones-talking-about/
Old Town Alexandria’s torpedo factory is an art league with studios and shops for artists.
I co-own an old church that we’ve turned in to a Circus School space.
The original post had 48 pic's.. Why not just show all 48 pics instead of 40? I understand taking a post with 100 pics down to top 50 but 48 to 40. Seems odd.
I have always loved the idea of repurposing old buildings. A lot of older architecture is beautiful, and it’s a shame to see it torn down (prime example is Trump tearing down the beautiful Bonwit Teller department store to build his tacky-a*s Trump Tower—-if he wasn’t so bourgeois, he might’ve instead seen value in converting the original building into really unique apartments). Done right, and with respect for the original, conversions can make the new business or living space inside incredibly unique and memorable—-and a vast improvement over the same old same old.
