Beloit College turned a decommissioned coal plant into the award-winning Powerhouse - a stunning model of adaptive reuse and sustainable architecture. Designed by Studio Gang, the former Blackhawk Generating Station now blends historic preservation with green innovation, featuring river-powered heating and cooling, natural light, and LEED certification.

Note: Historecycle has learned that, unfortunately, due to funding issues, this renovation project is not going forward. More details in a future blog post. Chicago’s legendary rock music hall Double Door is overcoming the typical odds faced by those looking to preserve the best of a historic building while revamping it with both modern and green features. To paraphrase George Harrison, it takes plenty of money, a whole lot of precious time, and much patience, to do it right.

Two Roaring Twenties-era structures in the Chicago area are meeting that challenge by collecting and conserving stormwater on a grand scale. Dominican University In 2007, while hammering out the blueprints for a new science building, Parmer Hall, Dominican University in suburban River Forest, IL, discovered a perfect source of water for air-conditioning the new structure: a cistern dating back to the 1920’s buried under planks and debris in the basement of the old science bui

Chicago, aka hog butcher for the world, is home to The Plant , a meat-packing factory-turned-food production center and farmer’s market. The three-story building, vintage 1925, sits squarely on the border of a gritty south side industrial and a residential neighborhood. It is a hotbed of activity where recycling is paramount. A tour of The Plant gives you a chance to see its “food loop” in action, surrounded by re-engineered building space and salvaged materials. On the firs