Big Box Reuse [Hardcover]

Julia Christensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0262033798 | ISBN-13: 978-0262033794

America is becoming a container landscape of big boxes connected by highways. When a big box store upsizes to an even bigger box "supercenter" down the road, it leaves behind more than the vacant shell of a retail operation; it leaves behind a changed landscape that can't be changed back. Acres of land have been paved around it. Highway traffic comes to it; local roads end at it. With thousands of empty big box stores spread across America, these vistas have become a dominant feature of the American landscape. In Big Box Reuse, Julia Christensen shows us how ten communities have addressed this problem, turning vacated Wal-Marts and Kmarts into something else: a church, a library, a school, a medical center, a courthouse, a recreation center, a museum, or other more civic-minded structures. In each case, what was once a shopping destination becomes a center of community life. Christensen crisscrossed America identifying these projects, then photographed, videotaped, and interviewed the people involved. The first-person accounts and color photographs of Big Box Reuse reveal the hidden stories behind the transformation of these facades into gateways of community life. Whether a big box store becomes a "Senior Resource Center" or a museum devoted to Spam (the kind that comes in a can), each renovation displays a community's resourcefulness and creativity--but also raises questions about how big box buildings affect the lives of communities. What does it mean for us and for the future of America if the spaces of commerce built by a few monolithic corporations become the sites where education, medicine, religion, and culture are dispensed wholesale to the populace?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, December 2008: From Kentucky to California, the construction of tens of thousands of big box stores over the past few decades has transformed the American landscape. What happens when one of these stores goes bust or moves to a super-sized retail center a few miles down the road? Right now communities across the country are confronted with the challenge of repurposing these enormous physical structures, their acres of parking lot, and the accompanying network of roadways. Intrepid artist and writer Julia Christensen traveled all over the United States to discover the surprising story of how some of them have creatively met that challenge. Big Box Reuse--an appropriately big, square book--describes in words, photographs, and building plans the reincarnation of 10 former retail behemoths into facilities ranging from an indoor raceway and a Spam museum to a health center, library, and charter school. In each case study, Christensen documents and reflects deeply on the big box transformation with respect to each locale's particular socio-economic, political, and cultural history. Big Box Reuse presents "outside the box" thinking on American culture and commerce, community activism, and savvy and sensible redesign of our built environment. --Lauren Nemroff

From Publishers Weekly

Since 1962, big-box stores of 20,000 to 28,000 square feet have dotted the American landscape, their bare-boned appearance, according to artist Christensen, promising bare-boned bargains. But after the box is vacated, sometimes after only a few years, a community is left with a decision about what to do with the structure. Christensen focuses on empty Wal-Mart and Kmart stores to discuss 10 imaginative and successful projects converting boxes into a library, a Head Start center and a senior resource center, among others. Charter schools have moved into empty big boxes, as have churches, for whom, Christensen says, the big box may be the revival tent of the twenty-first century. Christensen's stories can become repetitive, but the themes she draws from her investigations carry conviction and a sense of urgency. She argues that eventual reuse should be a part of a big box's original design, and that information on reuse should be disseminated so municipalities can make informed decisions. But she also questions whether we should want a future landscape of renovated big box stores: We are what we build, she says. 77 color photos. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262033798
• ISBN-13: 978-0262033794
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A COMMUNITY CAN MAKE IT WORK March 2, 2009

By James M. Frymark

Format:Hardcover

The different case studies presented evidences that communities, when working together and involving all those who have a stake in a project, can accomplish what may have been thought of as "beyond reach". It is clear that in each of the case studies, creativity is critical and proves that sometimes dreams can come true. Being familiar with one of the case studies, I can say that the information presented is accurate and a good reflection of the trials and tribulations encountered when making the dream become reality.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Atrocious Presentation! August 19, 2011

By M. A. Newman

Format:Hardcover

As someone who has spent a majority of his career working in the design/architecture press, I was very excited to come across this book as this has always been a subject I've been interested in, especially the "green" aspects of reusing pre-existing structures.
What I found when I dove into this book can only be described as disappointing.
The photography is horrible! Most of the photos look like they were taken with a disposable camera purchased at one of the featured Wal-Marts or K-Marts before they shuttered! Aside from the quality of the photos, the mere selection of photos is a joke. For a book that purports to give the details of "before and after" reuse, there are very few photos that adequately show similar shots of the previous structure and the new, reimagined structure. Also, there was only one project where the floor plans and architectural drawings were featured, a component that I feel is essential if the author and the publisher expect this book to have any real use by students of architecture.
It should be added that in 85% of the cases, the new versions of these big-box shells were hardly an improvement--a flea market? A day-care center with a playground on PAVEMENT? If anything "Big Box Reuse" doesn't so much show innovative ideas and methods for effective architecture rehabilitation as it shows how depressing the state of architecture and design has become in the United States when it's easier to simply reuse an abandoned Wal-Mart--itself, no prize in the world of design--rather than create something from the ground up.
Also, it should be noted that there are other big box stores in the U.S. other than K- and Wal-Marts; what about the abandoned Circuit Citys? Old Sears or Montgomery Ward's? Maybe a previous Linens N Things that was turned into a gym?

"Big Box Reuse" is a wonderful idea for a book; I just wish someone would have tackled this with a broader depth of coverage in terms of the closed stores as well as someone either able to effectively photograph properties or acquire appropriate photographs and other pieces of art to make this what it should've been: An inspiration to future architects, city planners, and designers.

In the meantime, anybody wanna buy a copy of "Big Box Reuse"?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Chuck November 29, 2010

By Chaley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Intersting subject and intersting book but somewhat short on real life examples that might be applicable elsewhere. I was expecting more.