Vernaculars of Capital: Are Midcentury Circle Ks Phoenix's Most Reusable Buildings?
AZ SHPO | October 28th
Lucas Lindsey
Development Manager
Venue Projects
@urbnist | urbnist.com
Roadmap
1. Two Beliefs
2. Circle Ks as Case Study
3. Some Discussion
Q: What is adaptive reuse?
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A: The ongoing change of style, culture, and economics as expressed in buildings.
When structure outlives function, when markets shift values, when the roof leaks--these forces of man and nature threaten buildings.
Adaptive reuse is one answer to extending their lifespan.
Two Beliefs
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A building is never finished.
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"The word building contains the double reality."
- Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn
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The Shearing Layers of Change
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"Commercial buildings have to adapt quickly, often radically, because of intense competitive pressure to perform... they are forever metamorphic."
-Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn
Rise Uptown Hotel
400 W. Camelback Rd. Phx, AZ - Uptown Phoenix & Medlock Place
Completed Fall 2020 | Co-Developer & Co-Owner | 79 Key Boutique Hotel with Don Woods, Lylo, Pop Stand, Cartel Coffee, Shaded Pool, and Event Lawn
Rise Uptown Hotel
400 W. Camelback Rd. Phx, AZ - Uptown Phoenix & Medlock Place
Completed Fall 2020 | Co-Developer & Co-Owner | 79 Key Boutique Hotel with Don Woods, Lylo, Pop Stand, Cartel Coffee, Shaded Pool, and Event Lawn
Rise Uptown Hotel
400 W. Camelback Rd. Phx, AZ - Uptown Phoenix & Medlock Place
Completed Fall 2020 | Co-Developer & Co-Owner | 79 Key Boutique Hotel with Don Woods, Lylo, Pop Stand, Cartel Coffee, Shaded Pool, and Event Lawn
A building is a business model.
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Vernaculars of Capital
"Current American architecture is not a matter of art, but of business... This is at once the curse and the glory of American architecture."
-Barr Ferrce, in 1893
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Vernaculars of Capital
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Vernaculars of Capital
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"The insistence on the linkage between profit and program is fundamental to commercial architecture, where... economic considerations govern design decisions."
-Carol Willis, 1995
Circle K: The Especially Adaptable Time Traveler
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Image Source: History Adventuring
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20th Ave & Bell: Expanding Ahead of Growth
Shown in 1969
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20th Ave & Bell: Growth Catching Up
Shown later in 1986
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1001 N. 16th St: Where It All Began
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1001 N. 16th St. in 1976
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1001 N. 16th St. Ten Years Later: A Changed Site (and Biz Model)
Bankruptcy by 1990 = 1,500 Stores Closed
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Mapping the "Invasion:" Paho Mann's Late 2000s Work
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Carrying the research torch forward
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Same buildings, (some) new businesses
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Circle Ks Today: By the Numbers
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174 early-era Circle Ks cataloged
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126 remain, 11 fewer than when Paho Mann did his research in the mid to late 2000s.
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Of the 126 survivors, 7 are vacant, 22 are still Circle Ks, and 97 have been adapted.
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Median age is 51, with some approaching 60 and nearly double that of a typical commercial building in the American SW
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Takeaways for Consideration
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Preservation scales through adaptive reuse--Increase luck surface area and ask the right questions
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Entrepreneurs are a natural ally to the preservation movement because business models sustain buildings
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If we reduce the cost, time, and friction of reuse, we will see more buildings reused--the market consumes buildings, but it can be leveraged to save them, too
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Some Discussion
Vernaculars of Capital - AZSHPO
By Lucas Lindsey
Vernaculars of Capital - AZSHPO
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