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?

1

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

1 A building is never finished.

1

"The word building contains the double reality."

- Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn

1

The Shearing Layers of Change

1

"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.

1

1 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

1 Vernaculars of Capital

1

"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

2

2

Image Source: History Adventuring

2

20th Ave & Bell: Expanding Ahead of Growth

Shown in 1969

2

20th Ave & Bell: Growth Catching Up

Shown later in 1986

2

1001 N. 16th St: Where It All Began

2

1001 N. 16th St. in 1976

2

1001 N. 16th St. Ten Years Later: A Changed Site (and Biz Model)

Bankruptcy by 1990 = 1,500 Stores Closed

2

Mapping the "Invasion:" Paho Mann's Late 2000s Work

2

Carrying the research torch forward

2

Same buildings, (some) new businesses

2

Circle Ks Today: By the Numbers

174 early-era Circle Ks cataloged
126 remain, 11 fewer than when Paho Mann did his research in the mid to late 2000s.
Of the 126 survivors, 7 are vacant, 22 are still Circle Ks, and 97 have been adapted.
Median age is 51, with some approaching 60 and nearly double that of a typical commercial building in the American SW

2

Takeaways for Consideration

Preservation scales through adaptive reuse--Increase luck surface area and ask the right questions
Entrepreneurs are a natural ally to the preservation movement because business models sustain buildings
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

Vernaculars of Capital: Are Midcentury Circle Ks Phoenix's Most Reusable Buildings?

AZ SHPO | October 28th

Lucas Lindsey

Roadmap

1. Two Beliefs 2. Circle Ks as Case Study 3. Some Discussion

Q: What is adaptive reuse?

1

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

1

A building is never finished.

1

"The word building contains the double reality."

1

The Shearing Layers of Change

1

Rise Uptown Hotel

Rise Uptown Hotel

Rise Uptown Hotel

A building is a business model.

1

1

Vernaculars of Capital

1

Vernaculars of Capital

1

Vernaculars of Capital

1

Circle K: The Especially Adaptable Time Traveler

2

2

2

2

20th Ave & Bell: Expanding Ahead of Growth

Shown in 1969

2

20th Ave & Bell: Growth Catching Up

Shown later in 1986

2

1001 N. 16th St: Where It All Began

2

1001 N. 16th St. in 1976

2

1001 N. 16th St. Ten Years Later: A Changed Site (and Biz Model)

Bankruptcy by 1990 = 1,500 Stores Closed

2

Mapping the "Invasion:" Paho Mann's Late 2000s Work

2

Carrying the research torch forward

2

Same buildings, (some) new businesses

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Circle Ks Today: By the Numbers

174 early-era Circle Ks cataloged

126 remain, 11 fewer than when Paho Mann did his research in the mid to late 2000s.

Of the 126 survivors, 7 are vacant, 22 are still Circle Ks, and 97 have been adapted.

Median age is 51, with some approaching 60 and nearly double that of a typical commercial building in the American SW

2

Takeaways for Consideration

Preservation scales through adaptive reuse--Increase luck surface area and ask the right questions

Entrepreneurs are a natural ally to the preservation movement because business models sustain buildings

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

3

Some Discussion

1. Two Beliefs
2. Circle Ks as Case Study
3. Some Discussion