Running on Empty: Abandoned Churches in Downtown Kitchener

As the religious landscape and demographics of South Western Ontario begin to change many congregations can no longer maintain the buildings that house them. More and more churches are on the verge of being vacated or are in fact sitting empty with no clear plan for their future. This thesis will research the possible adaptive re-uses of empty churches in South-Western Ontario, particularly in the City of Kitchener. This architectural condition will be explored using a community lens where the qualities of human engagement within the space are privileged and along with the building's state of abandonment are the foundations of any intervention and transformation. From a brief catalogue of buildings in repair three will be studied and one will be imagined with a future intervention that may enrich the community in ways as yet unimagined by the towns and administrators.