Artscape+Wychwood+Barns+Background

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=Artscape Wychwood Barns Background=

History of Wychwood Barns
The Wychwood Barns was originally the Wychwood TTC streetcar repair barns, built in 1913-1921. During the 1980s, the Wychwood barns was used as a developing and testing facility for the new streetcars and for the retrofitted Scarborough rapid transit trains, but became abandoned after the completion of the retrofitted lines.

In early 2000s, Artscape Toronto had conducted a community consultations and a feasibility study for the redevelopment of Wychwood barns. In January 2004, the proposal was approved and thus began the transformation of the Wychwood barns which was completed in November 2008. The **adaptive reuse** of what was once a TTC streetcar repairing facility has turned it into an multidisciplinary arts space for artists and nonprofit organizations.

What is adaptive reuse?
According to Jackie Craven of About.com, adaptive reuse is commonly known as "a process that adapts buildings for new uses while retaining their historic features." In another way, as MIT Industrial Ecology & Life Cycle Assessment puts it, a process that "prolong the period from cradle-to-grave of a building by retaining all or most of the structural system and as much as possible." Converting historic buildings into something with new purposes is not just for the sake of nostalgia but that there are economical benefits too (Bahl; MIT). Rather than constructing a building from scratch which requires new materials and more money, restoring existing buildings can help reduce those costs and help preserve the "architectural residue...of vast physical, human, and cultural energy" (Bahl). It is also important to consider that even the transportation of material requires resources (e.g. gas), which is why it is even more important to use local materials rather than imported materials.

Some great examples of converted or adaptive reuse buildings can be seen in the WebUrbanist (link 1, link 2). Historically, the practice of adaptive reuse happened quite often during empire takeovers or colonization (MIT). Today, however, the restoration of existing old buildings can be help the redevelopment a community by inducing a new micro-economy (depending on the type of activity commercial or otherwise), attract new residents, and revitalize community culture.

Other revitalization projects
- [|The Distillery] - [|Don Valley Brick Works] (renamed as Evergreen Brick Works)

Key words
conservation, preservation, cradle-to-grave, ecology, urban renewal, corporate responsibility, ethics,