Initial Thoughts: A Preservation Story

Preservation story: Through an image

Benld Illinois, Family General Store

This simple stick frame structure started as a single small family home. As time passed, the building needed to accommodate a general store, or a grocery type space. This was placed near the street, further exemplified by an extruded awning. Chicken coops and a shed were further added to the rear of the lot, similar to "urban farming" that is currently taking place around the country today. As the surrounding, once booming town, grew smaller so did the need of the transformed building.

My current research is pulling me to question how to adapt unused buildings in a larger community landscape, each having their own unique attributes and how they have affected the landscape. Like small pins on a map, buildings dot the current landscape I am studying. A mix of homes, commercial and industrial buildings. A checker board pattern has emerged from the community, following Milwaukee's grid, industrial buildings sit next to residential homes which sit next to commercial buildings, revealing a mix of zoning types.

This emerging pattern of transformation in my research is revealing itself as time passes. My current challenge is applying these themes into existing architecture that already have transformed over time.

These facts have revealed that designing a building in an urban setting takes different types of research techniques. These techniques have led to actions of ideas of this unique place, which I hope may be used to design in other cities around the country.