Adaptive reuse or the process of transforming an older building by reusing the structure and changing its original purpose, has gained relevance over the years especially because it allows a complete optimization of the performance of the existing built environment. In a piece, originally published on Metropolis, author Elissaveta Brandon explores how "architects and developers are transforming the staples of the South—located throughout a 120-mile region from Winston-Salem to Fayetteville—into infrastructure fit for today". Transforming historic mills into design hubs, and mixed-use complexes, the article highlights 3 examples from North Carolina.
When architect Louis Cherry first walked into the Adams-Millis Hosiery Mill, a 1920s factory in High Point, North Carolina, his jaw dropped. “It was majestic, almost like a Greek stoa,” he says of the cast-in-place concrete structure and the two-foot-wide columns with flare mushroom cap tops and square drop caps. Designed to facilitate intricate work, the mill had narrow floor plates and could allow for “all kinds of natural light” despite windows that had been boarded up over the years. “I saw the potential for this to be a gorgeous space.”
