Best Practices
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A. Design
Institutional buildings have an established form and character, and any changes
to the building’s style should complement the existing building and not detract
from it. In most cases, building additions and new construction should maintain
existing building height, setbacks, and scale to minimize the visual and physical
impact of redevelopment.
B. Architecture
Municipalities can choose which types of architectural alterations to
accommodate and which ones to restrict. These alterations can include
window and door openings, rooflines, exterior façade, building materials, and
color. Façade and conservation easements ensure that distinctive architectural
details will remain even if the property changes use or ownership in the
future. Façade and conservation easements are legal agreements which place
limitations on building alteration through a deed restriction that is attached to
the property in perpetuity rather than the property owner. The owner of the
easement is either a nonprofit organization or a government agency, which
enforces the terms of the easement.
C. Site Features
To ensure that no historic or sensitive features are destroyed, such as walls,
gardens, playgrounds, and cemeteries, developers should document all such
features and invite community comment during the proposal process. A
perpetual maintenance fund may be established by the owner to ensure these
features are preserved and maintained. The creation and application of such
funds requires communication and collaboration among the building’s owner
and the community.
D. Viewsheds
Maintaining existing views of a significant building, landscape feature, or site
element, such as a decorative iron fence, is often an important consideration
with adaptive reuse. The community should determine which views are most
important to save and specify their preservation as a condition of approval.
Additional deed restrictions may be placed on the property to ensure on-going
maintenance of the feature.
E. Accessibility
Handicapped access compliance is an issue that frequently arises in adaptive
reuse. Creative design and engineering can usually address these issues.
Code officials can ensure that ADA and building code upgrades meet the
community’s vision by working closely with designers and engineers.
F. Sustainable Building Design
An adaptively reused building is a “green” building by nature because it
maximizes the use of existing materials and infrastructure and minimizes
construction waste. Municipalities may go even further and provide bonuses
for buildings that can be retrofitted to conserve energy. For instance, large
windows should be maintained and made operable to capture daylight and
provide ventilation, and high ceilings provide ample space for insulation and
modern and efficient heating and cooling systems. In turn, modern HVAC
systems and similar improvements will likely result in lower heating and cooling
costs for the new occupants.
An accessible entrance (above)
and second story dormers (below) were
added to the former First Baptist Church,
Lower Merion.
