From Power to Possibility: Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Giants (Symposium)

Why It Matters

Transforming obsolete power plants into renewable hubs and public spaces preserves carbon, revitalizes waterfronts, and advances climate‑just urban development.

Key Takeaways

• Decommissioned power plants can become renewable energy hubs
• Adaptive reuse preserves embodied carbon and historic waterfront identity
• Community-led designs ensure equitable access and environmental justice
• Four reuse pathways: ruin, cultural, renewable, mixed-use developments
• Case studies—from New Haven to London—show scalable transformation models

Summary

The Yale‑hosted webinar examined how decommissioned fossil‑fuel power plants can shift from demolition to adaptive reuse, positioning these massive waterfront structures as assets for a clean‑energy future. Speakers highlighted the urgency of preserving embodied carbon, restoring historic landscapes, and addressing environmental justice in frontline communities that have long borne industrial burdens.

Key insights included a four‑category framework for post‑industrial sites: allowing ruin, converting to cultural or institutional venues, retrofitting for renewable generation, and creating mixed‑use public spaces. Case studies such as New Haven’s English Station, London’s Battersea Power Station, Chicago’s Sears plant, and Havana’s Antonio Maceo facility illustrated how existing grid connections, iconic architecture, and community input can drive sustainable redevelopment.

Notable remarks underscored the cultural resonance of these “castles on the water”: Farwell likened power plants to romantic landmarks, while Nina Rapoport invoked Venturi’s “glove” metaphor to describe their exposed, adaptable infrastructure. Daniel Campo described an “accidental playground” born from vacant waterfronts, emphasizing grassroots reclamation when markets fail.

The discussion signals a roadmap for policymakers, developers, and planners: repurposing power plants can lock in carbon savings, generate clean energy, and deliver public amenities, thereby aligning urban revitalization with climate goals and equitable growth.

Original Description

As communities accelerate toward a clean-energy future, thousands of fossil-fuel power plants will be decommissioned. Many of these structures are monumental — grand in scale, powerfully engineered, commanding prime waterfront locations. Rather than defaulting to demolition — discarding enormous, embodied carbon and erasing industrial heritage — the priority must be transforming these sites into community assets supporting health and wellbeing, climate resilience, and economic development.

Around the world, magnificent power plants have been reimagined: London’s Battersea and Bankside (Tate Modern), New York’s Glenwood, Sydney’s White Bay. Yet such celebrated projects often cluster in cities with strong economic drivers. We urgently need transformational reuse in places lacking the same market forces — and especially in frontline communities of color that have borne environmental burdens for decades. Given these sites’ histories as sources of pollution and extraction, adaptive reuse must prioritize remediation, nature-based climate solutions, and community benefit — whether serving communities directly harmed or opening long-privatized resources to broader public access.

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

Norma Barbacci, Yale School of Architecture / Norma Barbacci Preservation Consultants LLC

Anstress Farwell, New Haven Urban Design League

Nina Rappaport, Yale School of Architecture

Keynote Lecture:

Daniel Campo — Post-Industrial DIY: Reclaiming the Power Plant as Civic Space. Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, Morgan State University

Professor Campo will explore how decommissioned power plants can be transformed into civic spaces that serve communities, drawing on his research into postindustrial adaptive reuse and community-driven revitalization.

Panel I — Reinventing Industrial Sites: Local Perspectives:

Manresa Wilds, Norwalk, CT – Ecological Renewal and Public Access on a 125-Acre Site

Jeremy Alain Siegel, AIA, AICP, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), New York

Aaron Vaden-Youmans, and Lola Sheppard, Grimshaw Architects

Panel II — Reinventing Industrial Sites: Global Perspectives:

Marco Ortíz, Rafael Viñoly Architects

Douglass Farr, Principal, Farr Associates Architects and Urban Design, Chicago

Felipe Dulzaides, Artist and Founder, Centro Bahía, Havana, Cuba

Moderated Panel Discussion & Closing Remarks:

Moderator: Nina Rappaport, architectural critic, urbanist, curator, and educator

All speakers participate in a discussion: How can industrial heritage fuel a sustainable future?