Video
Applying the Rehab Standards: Mills Industrial and Warehouse – Webinar #6
Transcript
Hello, my name is Raluca Filimon, historical architect with Technical Preservation Services. I’ll be presenting the first portion of this webinar and my colleague, Karen Brandt, will be presenting the second portion. This training is part of a series dealing with the interpretation and application of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. This webinar focuses on applying the Standards to mills, industrial buildings, and warehouses.
This is an advanced training intended for those already familiar with the Rehab Standards, and we assume everyone watching this webinar series already comes to it with that basic knowledge. However, additional information and training about the Standards are available on our website. The content of today’s training, like other guidelines, publications, training, and information available from the National Park Service, is intended to assist in the interpretation and application of the Standards but is not regulatory or binding for the purposes of the tax incentives program, the program regulations and the Standards themselves take precedence in any decision-making and should always be consulted first.
The project examples included in this webinar are not necessarily case studies. Some have had their facts and circumstances as described in the presentation simplified or adapted to more clearly express the concepts being discussed. Also, in using the information contained in this training, it should be considered in its entirety, and portions not taken out of context. Likewise, the TPS website should always be consulted to make sure you are using the most current version of any published guidance and information.
In this presentation, we are covering an expansive array of large- and small-scale industrial property types including mills, factories, warehouses, powerplants, cold storage facilities and modern warehouse construction. You can see some examples here. This broad category of property types can be found in both urban and rural settings and historically served a variety of functions and uses. The versatility of industrial buildings offers some inherent flexibility when applying the Standards for new or continued use.
The exterior site and setting, to various interior treatments based on new uses of the building, here are some of the more frequent issues you could face when planning a successful historic tax credit project. I will start us off on the exterior and then we will move to the interior with Karen.
As you begin planning a project, you should first identify what the distinctive character-defining features of the property are. Knowing the historic use will help you determine those character-defining features and will help determine the best treatments to meet the Standards. For example, the Robinson Cold Storage building in the right-hand photo was used for, you guessed it, cold storage. A character-defining feature of a cold storage building is a lack of windows on most of the exterior facades.
The location of a building will result in a variety of site and landscape features. Factories are not always located in remote areas with sparse landscaping but may also be in residential neighborhoods and have more plantings, especially if the company-built worker housing in the surrounding areas. Based on the building's historic site and landscape character, you can begin to identify what character-defining historic features remain, if any, that should be retained and incorporated into the design, For example, significant paths, walkways or green spaces, landscape features, or industrial elements such as railroads seen here.
Depending on the building’s historic use, it might be located near a riverfront or canal or have character-defining site elements that relate to the historic use. Industrial sites could also be part of commercial downtowns, which of course would feature city sidewalks and possibly even have parking lots. When designing new landscaping, it is important to determine how the introduction of new features such as green spaces, fencing and walls, trees, accessory structures, and other outdoor features will impact the historic landscape.
New features should be compatible with the industrial character of the site and should therefore avoid being too formal or too residential in nature. For example, consider proximity of new features to buildings, number and scale of plantings, and the overall design of the landscape features. In the case of the Carnation Milk Plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, which was being rehabilitated for a new use as affordable senior housing, the original landscape plan, seen here, called for the introduction of numerous elements like formal water features and gardens that, taken as a whole, were not compatible with the industrial character of the site.
Whereas the historic landscape was relatively simple, mostly without plantings and with a railroad track to the rear. The completed project featured a compatible landscape with new parking, a resident pavilion, new sidewalks, an outdoor work-out area, and a place for a community garden. Some additional plantings would also have met the Standards, but the applicant elected not to include more vegetation.
With new site features such as freestanding outdoor pavilions, we look at the design, massing, location and scale of the pavilion in relation to the historic building. Will the pavilion block the view of the historic building? Will it seem out of character? Is it compatible in design, scale, and materials? In a mill or industrial complex, it is important not to clutter the site with too much vegetation that changes the industrial character of the site and could give it a more residential character.
In the case of Makers Brewery in Norfolk, Virginia, the applicant wanted to transform an empty side lot into a vibrant outdoor tree-lined recreation space with fire pits, tables, seating, patios, pavilions, game stations, and more. They successfully did so, holding the pavilions away from the side of the building where they don’t impact the visual or physical character of the historic building. It is important to note that a lot of times outdoor furniture is proposed, this is something we are not necessarily concerned about since it is usually removable.
Moving away from the site, when are new signs, awnings, and canopies appropriate on these buildings and how can this be done in a compatible manner? If there is precedent for the building or property to have signage or canopies, or it is compatible with the building type, period, or with the historic character of the district, then a new installation may be appropriate, as seen here in these images.
And on the Schmidt brewery, a nice example. If, however, the building has no extant historic signage, consider if the proposed type of signage is appropriate for the time period and character of the site. If what is being proposed varies from what would have been typical for that particular building, physical or pictorial documentation could make the case for that particular design.
It should be noted that it is also important to consider primary and secondary elevations on the building. Here are some project examples where appropriately scaled signage was approved. In the case of this factory in Poughkeepsie, new signage with simple lettering on a board that looks like painted signage on a building was created and attached to the front elevation. Here are two more examples, one is a painted sign along a primary side elevation of a mill, and the other is an appropriately scaled blade sign installed along the building’s corner edge at the Pabst Brewery in Wisconsin.
Here are two more examples where the rooftop and illuminated awning signage are compatible with the historic character of these industrial complexes. It is possible that too much signage could have a negative cumulative effect if it overwhelms the building in design or size. Sometimes there are limited areas to place signage without covering character defining features, in these cases a monument sign may be appropriate, like we can see at the hosiery mill in the bottom corner.
When a building has multiple tenants requiring signs, new signage should be done strategically so that it does not overwhelm the building. At the Stutz Car Company in Indianapolis, Indiana, each tenant has small blade signs on the exterior building, as seen on the left and in the interior courtyard on the right.
Adding new canopies can change the character of a historic building; too many and too large of a canopy could overwhelm the building, making it incompatible. Note in these examples that the new canopies are compatibly sized and in scale with the entrance openings or facades. If the condition of a historically appropriate existing canopy is beyond repair, it should be used as the basis for selecting a replacement. Whatever the circumstance, it is important to select an appropriate canopy shape, material, frame dimension, signage if any, and placement on the facade.
Historic openings, whether vehicular in nature or loading docks, are important character-defining features that convey the historic function of the building and should be retained, especially on primary elevations. Doors can be pinned open, and new doors or storefront systems can be installed for modern uses. Here are images showing the existing and historic conditions of various types of openings and bays. The image on the left is a historic door style that is typical of the early 20th century and earlier/ Note the size and scale of the pedestrian door in the lower right corner.
Compatible infills can be used upon common door designs typical of the period and the style of the structure as seen here. Referencing one of our earlier slides, notice the flat, minimal canopies in their historic location. As you can see, there was a precedent, as they can be seen in the before photo. One successful approach is to install a garage door that is partially open, with a new recessed storefront system with a pedestrian entry behind it to evoke the sense of a void where a loading dock would be. Here is another example of that configuration.
Where there are distinctive historic doors remaining as in this example, the historic doors are fixed open (or remain operable) with a new entrance recessed behind in the opening.
Here are some examples of different opening and loading door infills. Historic loading doors should be retained and can either be locked in place or pinned open. If new doors do not need to be operable like in these two examples, then they should invoke the appearance of a compatible historic door.
In this example, the metal doors were replaced to match the historic doors. In larger openings, a storefront infill may be appropriate, and oftentimes the historic function of the opening can aid in designing a storefront system that meets the Standards. Here you can see two different treatments for these former garage door openings incorporating pedestrian access with solid and glazed storefront systems. In this example, the vehicular openings were infilled with storefront frames made to look like garage doors with opaque panels along the bottom. In this example, we can see that the loading bays read as voids, using dark storefront glass recessed within the opening. A new walkway was added where a dock likely existed historically.
Here the door openings were recessed and framed in dark metal to recreate the void the historic loading dock openings would have had. Another example of a replacement loading dock and canopy, as well as new glazed systems where the historic loading doors were. Note the new compatible landscaping added in front of the dock after re-grading of the parking lot, due to their low scale the historic loading dock remains visible, and it allowed for the retention of the loading dock without the addition of new railings for safety. This former factory now houses, a furniture store, and apartments.
This former flour factory had four different types of loading dock doors historically, which you can see in this photo and a closer view of the loading doors as well as the new loading dock and canopy that were installed. The openings were infilled with plate glass, with a replicated coil door at the top to evoke the historic use. Here's a closer view of the fixed doors in place, recessed storefront systems, and plate glass window as well as the new loading dock.
Often a change in use requires the introduction of new features such as new patios, ramps, and other amenity spaces to the site. This can work if the patio does not require a tall or opaque permanent railing to meet code. However, in some cases these can be hidden behind existing parapets or with a setback. Some alternate railing ideas can include planters or cable railings. At the Artist Space Lofts in Petersburg, Virginia, a deck with a simple metal railing was constructed atop a loading dock addition on the rear, where it had less of a visual impact due to its more secondary location.
Here a pool was added to the interior portion of the site at the Richmond Cold Storage Complex.
Certain new uses, such as residential or office, can be challenging for certain property types, such as windowless cold storage facilities and tobacco warehouses; they often require a creative approach. Applying the Standards in these cases requires an understanding of the historic use, determining a primary and secondary elevations, if possible, flexibility in the proposed design, and identifying any important character-defining features such as extant historic loading docks or windows to be repaired if possible. In the case of Valentines Transfer and Storage Company in Illinois, this ca.1925 warehouse had two street-facing elevations that contained loading docks and a limited number of historic punched openings. The other two secondary elevations were blank facades with expressed frame and brick infill. In order to get new residential use into this building, the rehabilitation proposed new openings for light and ventilation requirements. The challenge with this particular building is that it is seen in the round, so to minimize impact to the storage building’s character, new openings were introduced on one of the secondary elevations seen here with the East elevation image on left which in turn allowed all three other elevations to remain unchanged.
The developer proposed changes on one elevation with a compatibly sized egress stair and the sensitive insertion of new windows in three of the bays for units, along with non-projecting Juliette balconies. By keeping three of the elevations blank, the overall character of the industrial building was maintained while allowing for some modification to accommodate a new residential use. This project was an unusual situation because not only is the property seen in the round, but its small floor plate meant that a lightwell was not an ideal solution in terms of usable square footage. As you can see, even in this instance, there was a creative solution to introduce new window openings to allow light into residential units while meeting the Standards.
In general, it is important that new openings be concentrated on secondary elevations and held back at least one bay from the “corners”. New windows should be compatible with any extant historic windows but slightly differentiated to read as new. The Merchants Ice and Cold Storage complex in San Antonio, Texas, had several historic windows that already existed and historic signage that wrapped the top portions of several building components. The proposal to insert new windows had to be compatible with the character of the cold storage warehouse complex—especially the highly-visible west elevation blank façade that faced the railroads—as well as the character-defining signage.
You can see here in the bottom images the original proposal to insert new windows that would have impacted the historic signage.
The new office use allowed for the developer to be more strategic about where to put new openings. The revised and final design consisted of a reduced number of simple, compatible windows inserted on the south and east elevations that did not impact the historic signage and left a relatively larger ratio of solid brick to punched openings. On the railroad-facing west elevation, the blank corner façade with signage retained its historic visual character, and new simple, compatible windows were inserted on the adjacent addition that did not contain signage. An addition and more openings on the rear of the building allowed for more light as well.
Similarly, in the case of the Robinson Zeropak complex portions of the primary elevations on building sections D and E did not historically contain window openings, this historic cold storage facility was used to store and process apples. The expressed frame and brick infill and the historic signage are character-defining features of this building, so the design team came up with a creative solution to convert this building to a new residential use.
The design team proposed a combination of new window openings on the south elevation, lightwells, atria, and skylights to bring light into the building. They also placed the units toward the rear of the complex to take advantage of the new window openings, locating amenities and secondary spaces such as storage units, gyms, and community rooms towards the front where windows were not needed. This creative solution met programming needs while retaining the significant blind elevations along the primary facades and historic signage.
These series of low-scale tobacco warehouses originally had exterior louvered metal panels as the exterior covering, which was needed for ventilation of the tobacco. The top image here shows what the historic condition of the louvered panels looked like, and beneath is an in-progress photo showing new windows being inserted for units in the warehouses.
A creative approach was required for utilizing compatible materials when creating apartment units. This involved reestablishing an exterior metal cladding that is perforated so that it conceals new punched windows where there were none historically on the elevation, while allowing light and ventilation to still come through into the units.
And you can see in the after photos how the new metal paneled system with a louvered appearance was installed over the exterior skin thus articulating the very unique historic character of these tobacco warehouse buildings and ultimately meeting the Standards. Just a few more close up exterior and interior images of some of the different window configurations also with the same metal panel treatment, and as you can see it is possible for residents to see out the windows.
And here in the bottom image we can see what these concealed windows look like at night. Now over to Karen Brandt who will now talk about applying the Standards to the interior spaces and features of industrial buildings.
Karen Brant
Hello, I’m Karen Brandt, an architectural historian with Technical Preservation Services. I’ll be discussing these topics related to the interior of mills, industrial buildings, and warehouses in this portion of the presentation.
These are what are considered primary spaces and important character-defining interior features in factories, warehouses, and mills: Floor-to-ceiling heights, and sometimes volume, especially if there are generous floor-to-ceiling heights or open, multi-story-height spaces that characterize the property. Exposed structural systems such as wood beams, columns, and truss systems. Main stairs and stair towers as well as company offices are primary spaces. Architectural features and various finishes, and materials that make up the walls, floors, and ceilings. And finally, historic equipment, such as cranes and pullies, can sometimes be character-defining features.
Industrial or warehouse buildings can be constructed as large buildings with a soaring multi-story volume, or with multiple single-story floors. Some projects will involve both. Here we have a multi-story turbine room – you can see the large, open volume on the interior.
In this example there are multiple single-story floors. You can readily perceive how different the spaces in this building are from the soaring volume of the building on the previous slide. Each type of building may require different approaches and treatments.
When dealing with an industrial or warehouse-type building, as with rehabilitation projects generally, historic ceiling heights should be maintained. This can be often be accomplished by retaining full-height areas, sometimes used as lobbies for the new use, as you can see here in the photo, or large community or amenity spaces, corridors, or living rooms of residential units. This is a good opportunity to retain or incorporate as many of the historic features and materials, such as beams, columns, and windows into the new plan as possible. This is another portion of that same lobby area, which has been turned into a game room. The original ceiling heights and columns were retained. Note the clever use of the former freight elevator to provide seating, and how the original elevator door has been retained and is fixed in the open position.
In the same project, a bowling alley was inserted in a game room off the lobby. Much of the full length of the space is maintained. Note that curtains were installed to dampen the noise from the lanes.
In this knitting mill example, which is now a museum, the full volume of open space was retained, with exposed columns and beams, on the upper floors. This space can be used to rotate exhibits in and out as needed. It is important to note that in this case the applicant proposed to retain the open space on this floor, but subdivision of this space in this case would have met the Standards.
When buildings are characterized by multi-story spaces, some portion or sense of that volume should generally be retained. For example, a double-height warehouse space, a multi-story open machine shop with a traveling crane, or the generator room in a power plant, are spaces and volumes that are important to the significance of these buildings. These spaces are part of their historic character and should be retained.
Here is the Beloit Powerhouse in Wisconsin, which was rehabbed into a university gym. The initial proposal had the suspended track in the turbine hall puncturing through both the coal yard on the north elevation shown on the right and the old boiler space on the south elevation seen on the left.
In the new proposal, the track was designed to only puncture through the north elevation, which would be inside a new fieldhouse addition on a secondary elevation. This is the Turbine Hall before and after rehabilitation, while the track punctures the space, the full height of the space is still obvious and revealed. Note that the historic character was retained by keeping historic finishes such as the exposed ceiling, the concrete floors, structural beams, and the mezzanine and stair.
The Garver Feed Mill was built in 1906 as a sugar beet processing facility. The large open volume of the main room pre-rehabilitation was retained in its new use as a local food hall, event venue, and several local businesses. The existing structure was reused for a catwalk in a portion of the main hall, and as a way to access upper story businesses. The historic structure and character were maintained by leaving the existing structure exposed and weaving new systems such as HVAC, sprinkler, and electrical into the roof trusses. We would not typically require that all of the volume and space be left open, but retaining it was proposed by the applicant to align with their programming needs.
This is another view of the after. Note the retained exposed ceiling and masonry walls.
In this former brewery, a market was inserted with partial height food stalls with glazed lids or roofs that do not obscure either the height or length of the space.
If a building has very tall ceilings, it may be possible to insert a second floor and lofts for apartments. In the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, the building was massive at 225,000 sf and some sections of the former factory had double and triple height spaces. This former storage area was infilled with new units in a unique way, which we will look at in the next slide.
As you can see, they added a floor within the unit and a loft. The trusses are exposed both in the unit and in the newly created corridor. The corridor was built at 10 feet wide at the ground floor but widens significantly toward the ceiling to expose more of the trusses and the height and volume of the space. While it was not constructed exactly as drawn, the work still meets the Standards.
Now let’s take a closer look at interior features and finishes that define the character of industrial buildings and mills.
Industrial and warehouse buildings can often be very simple and utilitarian — with the spaces within these buildings consisting of not much more than large open areas defined by exposed ceilings, columns or posts, perimeter walls, and floors. The materials, features, and finishes that comprise the ceilings, walls, and floors are therefore particularly important in conveying the historic character of industrial and mill buildings, and all three of these principal surfaces should, in general, be retained and preserved as part of a rehabilitation project.
As in the example in this photo, the ceiling, with an exposed structural system of metal trusses and purlins, skylights, and the underside of the roof; the brick masonry walls, in this case, unpainted; an unfinished concrete floor; and other distinctive features such as historic equipment and machinery, and the craneway, all contribute to the historic industrial character of this former turbine engine room. Following are several examples illustrating features, finishes, and materials often found in warehouse, industrial, and mill buildings and how they have been retained and incorporated in successful rehabilitation projects.
In this example of a historic lobby, which has a historically finished character that should be retained, distinctive features including doors, trim, linoleum floors, and the column were retained and repaired. Yes, that seat is historic! As seen in the previous slide, some buildings of this type may have areas with a finished character in addition to utilitarian areas. This barber supply factory also housed the company’s executive offices. In this image, you can see where the two areas meet, and how the leaded glass and millwork characterizing the offices were retained, as were features like the exposed mushroom columns and ceiling decking in the utilitarian areas. When a building has areas with differentiated characteristics, it is important to retain both.
This former mill that is now apartments and office space is a good example of retained historic wood floors, exposed ceiling structure and columns.
Here are two more examples that show retained columns, beams, and floors. That is a Baltimore mill on the left –and a wholesale grocery warehouse on the right. This is also another example of how partial height walls can retain volume.
Here is another example, with exposed mushroom columns.
Generally speaking, masonry walls that were painted in the period of significance should remain painted, and unpainted brick should remain unpainted. In this former factory that is now an apartment building, both were kept. Color of the historic paint may be important, as a light color was often used in factories with certain historic uses that required light-reflection.
This is another view of the same building. Note that they kept the ladder in the previous photo and the doors in this one. This former creamery was converted to a public library. Glazed tile walls and floors were often used in creameries and other food based industrial sites as they were considered a more hygienic surface. Therefore, retaining them, and keeping them exposed and unpainted, is important to convey the historic character of the building.
Here are the after photos, which show the retention of exterior glazed brick walls, exposed ceilings, and columns. The building also had some structural issues and needed to replace a substantial amount of beams and decking to match the historic beams and decking. While doing so, they included acoustical baffles between the decking for sound. Some areas, as shown here, did receive new carpet, which helped with sound attenuation. The use of carpet was balanced by the retention of the tile walls and exposed ceiling, which were considered to be the most important historic features.
This is a former manufacturing building that was converted to 48 housing units. In this project, they retained the historic materials-floors, masonry walls and ceilings, and a new atrium that illuminates central units. You can see the before pictures here. They created a new lightwell as seen in the photo on the right, leaving brick walls exposed and retained the historic ceilings.
Here’s another good example of retaining character defining features such as the truss system, skylights, exposed brick walls, and metal distillery equipment. As a side note, while we don't require retention of historic machinery it is encouraged when possible. In this example, the applicant proposed their retention.
In this conference room, the walls and ceilings were left exposed, but carpet was added to the floors to attenuate the sound. This was an acceptable treatment within a secondary, limited, and incidental space within the overall building.
Adaptive reuse of these building types to many common new uses, however, can also present challenges that may require changes to the ceilings, walls, and floors to meet code, programmatic or other requirements.
When such changes are proposed, the character-defining materials, features, spaces, and finishes should be identified; their relative importance to the historic significance and appearance of the property evaluated, taking into account integrity and physical condition; and a justification should be provided as part of the Part 2 narrative that addresses first, the reasons for any proposed change; second, what, if any, alternatives were considered, taking into account the impacts the proposed changes and the alternatives would have on the character-defining features; and third, why the chosen treatment was selected.
Changes that would typically be required in adapting these types of buildings to a residential or hotel use might include leveling the floor, modifications to meet fire separation or sound attenuation requirements between floors, or adding insulation to walls or ceilings to meet affordable housing regulations and may therefore require changes to wall, ceiling, or floor materials, features, and finishes. In such instances, consider which are more intact or in better condition? Which may be more important in conveying the historic character and appearance of the space and building? Would modifying one over the other have a greater or lesser impact on the historic character of the space?
For these building types and projects, modifications to one of these three principal surfaces to meet code or other requirements will generally meet the Standards, with an adequate, demonstrated justification, and when the historic character and features of the other two surfaces are retained. If more than one surface is proposed to be changed, then greater justification may be necessary, and any changes to ceilings, walls, and floors to meet code or other requirements should still be compatible with the historic character of the building.
Changes that would typically be required in adapting these types of buildings to a residential or hotel use might include leveling the floor, modifications to meet fire separation or sound attenuation requirements between floors, or adding insulation to walls or ceilings to meet affordable housing regulations and may therefore require changes to wall, ceiling, or floor materials, features, and finishes.
In such instances, consider which are more intact or in better condition? Which may be more important in conveying the historic character and appearance of the space and building? Would modifying one over the other have a greater or lesser impact on the historic character of the space?
For these building types and projects, modifications to one of these three principal surfaces to meet code or other requirements will generally meet the Standards, with an adequate, demonstrated justification, and when the historic character and features of the other two surfaces are retained. If more than one surface is proposed to be changed, then greater justification may be necessary, and any changes to ceilings, walls, and floors to meet code or other requirements should still be compatible with the historic character of the building.
For instance, if one of these three principal wall-ceiling-floor surfaces is more deteriorated or altered than the others, that surface may be able to accept greater changes. Also, when it comes to interior masonry walls, we should consider the impact of the changes and whether or not the building will still look like an industrial building. For example, perhaps wall furring could be done in limited areas or select walls, or only within units, but exposed walls retained in public spaces rather than drywalling every surface, obscuring any interior historic character the building had.
In the examples that follow, we’ll see different treatment strategies for how to approach many of these common adaptive reuse situations. Often, mills or industrial buildings are able to retain original material, such as brick or concrete, exposed on the perimeter walls. Because the windows are so large, adding insulation does not do much in terms of energy efficiency. In some cases, however, such as affordable housing projects, regulations may require the addition of insulation. In this case a balance can sometimes be reached by insulating only the bedrooms and leaving the masonry walls in the primary spaces, such as living rooms, exposed. If covering the masonry, it is important to retain other historic finishes to convey the historic character of the space. In this example, you can see that the historic wood floors were retained, the columns exposed, and the beams remain expressed even though insulation has been added to the walls and ceiling.
Here, they have kept the historic wood floors, and left the structural system and ceiling exposed, but they have furred out the walls in the residential units for energy efficiency and resident comfort. It really is a matter of evaluating the important characteristics of each type of space and keeping the elements with the most historic character.
When adding furring to a masonry wall, it is important to retain the historic relation between the wall and any trim and the windows. The easiest way to do this is to limit the furring to a total depth of around 4”.
When deciding where to install insulation, sound or fire separation, the choices are generally the floor or ceiling. And whichever feature has the most historic character should be preserved.
For example, if the wood floors are beyond repair and need to be replaced, the sound attenuation can be placed underneath the new flooring materials. If the ceiling is non-descript and does not feature exposed trusses, then it may be better to place the insulation above the ceiling. If possible, historic floors should be salvaged and placed over gypcrete.
In mill buildings, the floors are typically wood, and the ceilings are exposed beams with wood decking. To achieve fire separation between floors, one of the surfaces must be modified. In this case, there was no historic flooring remaining. New engineered floors were floated with gypcrete for insulation, and the beams were left exposed. The historic columns and exposed ceiling beams were retained and left exposed.
This is an interesting example, because a proposal for sound attenuation came in as a post-Part 3 amendment. After the project was complete, the owners discovered that there was a great deal of sound transfer between the first floor and the second floor, where there’s an office tenant. The first-floor tenants could hear intelligible speech from overhead. The full extent of the problem became glaringly obvious one day when the upstairs tenant held a corn hole tournament!
Because a new yoga studio tenant was leasing the first floor, the owners needed to address the sound transfer. Because the second floor was occupied and carpeted, which limited their options, the owners commissioned an acoustical study to determine how to better attenuate the noise between floors. We would not require a sound study, but the owners found it helpful to explore alternatives and solutions. The study documented the areas where there were gaps in the floorboards and at the columns. It measured the Noise Isolation Class, NIC, and the building got a score of 26, which indicates a low performance as ideal conditions would result in a score of over 60.
The study recommended six options for sound reductions, with pluses and minuses noted including sealing gaps in the floor, applying an acoustical mat under the flooring (which would not work due to the existing carpet), adhering gypsum board to the underside of the floor planks, which didn't dampen the sound enough; wire hanging two layers of gypsum between the joists, which would only leave 6" of exposed joists while not dampering much sound; creating a glass or plexiglass ceiling below the joists, which would provide some muting but would alter the character of the space; or installing a full gypsum board ceiling below the joists, which would mute the most sound but obviously would cover the historic joists and alter the character of the space.
It was determined that the best option would be to install a dropped gypsum board ceiling 10" below the joists. While this would cover the joists, the wood beams and capital columns would still be exposed. Because this treatment was only being pursued for this tenant's portion of the building, and not across the entire first floor, and the masonry walls and wood floors remain exposed, this treatment met the Standards as far as preserving historic character within the context of the overall project.
How much MEP and conduit can go in existing and new corridors, provided the historic ceiling and visual character is still discernable? In general, systems can be exposed in these types of buildings.
One issue to look out for is the concentration of systems in hallways that may obscure ceiling features such as beams, trusses or metal, which changes the character of the interior, as seen in the photo on the right. On the left is a good example of grouping the ductwork and electrical to the side of the new corridor, so the structure is still visible.
Here are two corridors in the same project. On the left is a good example because the way the HVAC was installed allows the historic machinery to be retained and featured. The one on the right is not a recommended treatment because it obscures the ceiling, but in the context of the overall project it met the Standards. While this ductwork has been painted to match the adjacent structure, it is generally not necessary to paint the ductwork out in an industrial building.
This is a good example of new ductwork run in an open space with metal trusses, because it does not interfere with any character-defining features, and the historic trusses and ceiling are not obscured. Clouds can be employed in limited locations to hide some of the mechanical systems. The clouds should be industrial in character and material if in areas that are highly visible. These clouds were not required by NPS, but the applicant proposed them for their new use. This is a former Minnesota Linseed Oil Factory, which has been the Valspar Paint factory for some time. At the project outset, it had exposed HVAC, and an ACT ceiling in limited areas of office space.
Here are the new systems being added so you can see how large they are.
Because the paint factory fell into the continued use category, and by its nature required an extensive amount of ducting and a clean ceiling for the new lab use, they had a bit more flexibility in the size of the clouds used to hide the ducts in the lab area. It should be noted that insulated wrapped ducts are not typically compatible.
Adaptive reuse of industrial buildings may require intervention for additional light and amenities in the building. Let’s look at some examples of how atria, courtyards, or parking could be achieved while still maintaining the character of the building.
When is it appropriate to introduce an atrium or courtyard into an industrial building? There is often a need to get light into the middle of a large building, particularly in warehouse to residential rehabs. One of the easiest ways to do so is to introduce an atrium or courtyard. A new atrium or courtyard is most likely to be compatible when its size and location allow the visual character of the historic interior spaces to be read. These new features should be held off of exterior walls, so they aren’t visible while standing outside, and should not take up a large percentage of the building’s overall square footage. The applicant should consider how the newly exposed interior floor structure and any new window openings will be treated and if it will be compatible with the historic character of the building.
In this example, the exposed structure makes it appear that the atrium was cut into the building. Some projects have added interior parking to basement or first floor spaces. This can work if the floor plate and column lines can accommodate parking spots and traffic lanes, and the building is properly vented, which can be the biggest challenge. Some projects have removed glazing in the extant or new windows; this has been most successful when undertaken as part of a larger-scale complex.
This concludes our presentation on rehabbing the exterior and interior of historic mills, industrial buildings, and warehouses. We hope this information on openings, voids, loading docks, signage, preserving the character of interior spaces, the retention of historic features & finishes and MEP systems will be useful.
For more information, TPS has published several documents on rehabbing industrial buildings, such as:
- The White paper on Landscape Treatments Around Historic Buildings
- ITS15: Treatment of Interiors in Industrial Buildings
- ITS 16: New Infill for Historic Loading Door Openings
- ITS 30: New Entries on Mill Buildings
- ITS 55: Retaining Industrial Character in Historic Buildings
These are all available on our website at nps.gov/tps. Thank you!
Duration
43 minutes, 24 seconds
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