A new life: Transformation of vacant office buildings into housing

Office buildings are experiencing vacancy. This leads to financial problems for the owners and social problems for the community, e.g. vandalism and deterioration. A solution may be found in transformation of vacant buildings and changing the buildings’ program. In the Dutch situation, housing is a valid function, given the tight market. Housing traditionally correlates well to other functions of the city core, such as culture and leisure. Most well-known examples of transformation consider buildings with a proven architectural quality, while vacancy-threatened buildings are often part of the non-eloquent building stock. Does transformation make sense in that case? What are the opportunities, threats and risks? Which are the critical success factors? In this contribution we will discuss financial, functional, structural, technical and architectonic issues and the impact on the urban context, both theoretically and empirically by presenting a number of interesting cases.