Hughes Warehouse one of the ten 2015 AIA COTE projects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten green projects in the USA. One of the recipients is the adaptive reuse of the old, early 20th century Hughes Warehouse, designed by Overland Partners.



The Hughes Warehouse industrial building dates back to 1917, when it was a plumbing warehouse in San Antonio, Texas; in 2012 it was given a new lease on life after being converted into office and studio spaces in the project by local architects Overland Partners. 



This adaptive reuse project is very attentive to the architectural aspects, preserving the original character of the building with its tall ceilings and materials and also incorporates strategies to enhance its environmental and social aspects.



The aim of the architectural solutions adopted in Hughes Warehouse is to reduce energy needs by including things like effective insulation, sun screens and a photovoltaic system that generates about 46% of the building's energy needs.



Based on the notion that the most sustainable building is the one that is already built the architects cleaned up the existing elements and wherever possible repurposed the materials - from the furniture to the timber to the bricks and even the old concrete floor was turned into paving for the outside. New materials were introduced after a lifecycle analysis was performed.



Special care also went into water consumption and management. The landscape is self-sustained and requires no irrigation, or chemical fertilisers and/or pesticides, preserving the quality of the nearby San Antonio river.



Hughes Warehouse seeks to engage with its setting, thanks to the 139-square metre courtyard unfolding beyond the old brick wall; a community space not only for workers in the building but as a hive of activity for the thriving creative and arts scene of the local neighbourhood of River North District. The steel loading docks are proof positive of this - they have been patterned off an abstraction of a Jackson Pollock painting.

As the jury comments, Hughes Warehouse by Overland Partners “proves that making use of a high percentage of reused and repurposed materials can be done creatively and affordably”.

(Christiane Bürklein)

Project: Overland Partners
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Year: 2012
Photography: © Dror Baldinger, © Scott Adams – courtesy of AIA
Awards: AIA COTE 2015