Pressing Need: Revitalizing Downtown Office Districts Through Adaptive Reuse
Discover how to be an innovator solving cities' vacant office building crisis.
Major cities are grappling with empty office spaces, and the problem is only deepening. Experts say:
• As of March 2023, the national average vacancy rate of U.S. offices had climbed as high as 18.6%.
• By 2030, over 300 million sq. ft. of U.S. office spaces will be obsolete.
• Around 35% of U.S. workers who could work from home as of 2023 were already doing so.
This AIA Committee on Design tour will showcase three creative and successful office building conversion projects from D.C. experts.
Major cities are grappling with empty office spaces, and the problem is only deepening. Experts say:
• As of March 2023, the national average vacancy rate of U.S. offices had climbed as high as 18.6%.
• By 2030, over 300 million sq. ft. of U.S. office spaces will be obsolete.
• Around 35% of U.S. workers who could work from home as of 2023 were already doing so.
This AIA Committee on Design tour will showcase three creative and successful office building conversion projects from D.C. experts.
Learning Objectives
- Explore how incentives from D.C. and the city of Alexandria are promoting alternative uses for empty office space.
- Learn about the problems each developer faced for converting each property.
- Find out about other successive conversion projects in D.C. and elsewhere.
- Discover how each architect took on the project and learn how they dealt with challenges.
- David Greenbaum, FAIA
Director of Culture and Museums/2019 AIA COD Chair - Gensler - Duncan Lyons
Principal - Gensler - David Haresign, FAIA
Partner - Bonstra | Haresign ARCHITECTS - Yulia Beltikova, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal - Antunovich Associates