An expert documents how communities are reusing 'reclaimed abandoned, architecturally uninspiring megastores' in innovative ways.
"Next week, Julia Christensen will begin a cross-country drive to places no other tourist would care to notice. In her 1999 Subaru Forester, Ms. Christensen, a 28-year-old artist, will trawl the American landscape in search of big-box superstores that are now used as churches, schools, racetracks and, in one case, a museum dedicated to Spam, the canned meat.
Ms. Christensen, who has made the field of big-box reuse her academic and artistic specialty, has already logged some 20,000 miles during two previous trips over the past two years in pursuit of former Wal-Marts, Winn-Dixies and Kmarts. Along the way, she has become an expert in the ingenious and innovative ways that communities have reclaimed abandoned, architecturally uninspiring megastores."
Thanks to J. Donan
Read the full story: Thinking Inside the Big Box
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello