In with the Old and Out with the New Adaptive Re-use of our Dying School

Architecture and communities together create a ‘sense of place’. Communities transform over time due to the economic and social needs. Consequently, architecture should be transforming as well in order to respond to surrounding context, however it is not. Among many structures, schools are important to create a sense of community for neighborhoods. Schools today are under enormous pressure to maintain educational excellence meanwhile facing continuous budget cuts. Historic schools like any other form of architecture have layers of history, values and memories. The history behind a structure consists of forms of transformation based on alternation and recreation that continue the life of a building. This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between architecture and communities through adaptive reuse and participatory design in order to enrich the experience and meaning of the building.