A Greener Path: Adaptive Reuse & Sufficiency

Adaptive reuse is seen as a key to sustainability and more successful decarbonization. This panel, with gmp, sbp, and GSAPP’s Andrés Jaque, examines the case for sufficiency through the use of conversions, renovation and adaptive reuse—collectively, ‘umbau’ in German—with the multidisciplinary panel representing the various areas of expertise needed for effective transformations of existing buildings and places. Sustainability is cast as a structural quality in an overarching sense—systematically gauging the effects of planning decisions on project lifecycle overall. As seen in the companion exhibition, a selection of gmp’s 60-plus umbau projects demonstrate how structures can be flexibly used, reused, expanded, and sustainably fortified.