Colloquia
Historic Preservation in the 21st Century
Norma Barbacci, Daniel Campo, Felipe Dulzaides, Douglass Farr, Anstress Farwell, Marco Ortíz, Nina Rappaport, Jeremy Alain Siegel, Lola Sheppard, Aaron Vaden-Youmans, Manresa Wilds
From Power to Possibility: Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Giants
As communities accelerate toward a clean-energy future, thousands of fossil-fuel power plants will be decommissioned. Many of these structures are monumental — grand in scale, powerfully engineered, commanding prime waterfront locations. Rather than defaulting to demolition — discarding enormous, embodied carbon and erasing industrial heritage — the priority must be transforming these sites into community assets supporting health and wellbeing, climate resilience, and economic development.
Around the world, magnificent power plants have been reimagined: London’s Battersea and Bankside (Tate Modern), New York’s Glenwood, Sydney’s White Bay. Yet such celebrated projects often cluster in cities with strong economic drivers. We urgently need transformational reuse in places lacking the same market forces — and especially in frontline communities of color that have borne environmental burdens for decades. Given these sites’ histories as sources of pollution and extraction, adaptive reuse must prioritize remediation, nature-based climate solutions, and community benefit — whether serving communities directly harmed or opening long-privatized resources to broader public access.
Case Studies in Transformation
This symposium examines three compelling examples demonstrating different pathways for power plant adaptive reuse — all prioritizing remediation, nature-based climate solutions, and community benefit:
Manresa Wilds, Norwalk, CT — A coal-fired plant that burned coal from 1960 to 1972, then oil, leaving 125 acres heavily contaminated with coal ash and petroleum residues. Operational until 2013, when–following numerous environmental disasters and flood damage from Hurricane Sandy–the plant was decommissioned and designated as a brownfield site. Sealed from public access for 75 years, this waterfront peninsula requires an initial $410 million investment covering the critical foundational work: remediating decades of industrial contamination, developing climate-resilient infrastructure and circulation, and restoring fragile coastal ecology. Led by nonprofit Manresa Island Corp., the transformation will create a community park and regional asset with nearly 2 miles of Long Island Sound coastline, restored wetland ecosystems, over 15 miles of trails, and the 1960s powerhouse adapted as a hub for community gathering, education, and research — demonstrating how privately-held industrial waterfronts can be returned to public benefit while advancing nature-based climate adaptation.
English Station, New Haven, CT — A coal- and oil-fired plant on Ball Island in the Mill River, now contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, asbestos, lead, and mercury. Adjacent to Fair Haven — a majority Latino, low-income community (67% Latino, one-third below poverty line). Despite a 2016 order requiring $30 million remediation, progress has stalled. Local advocates now propose converting it into Mill River Park with trails, wetland restoration, shoreline access, and green space — transforming toxic legacy into climate-resilient asset serving a frontline community that bore decades of pollution.
Battersea Power Station, London, UK — A coal-fired power station designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and completed in phases between the 1930s and 1950s, the plant supplied electricity to London for decades before its decommissioning in 1983. Despite its iconic four chimneys and Grade II*–listed status, numerous redevelopment attempts failed, leaving the 184-acre Thames-side site isolated, flood-prone, and constrained by heritage protections, underground easements, and protected views of the Palace of Westminster. Awarded in 2007, Rafael Viñoly Architects’ comprehensive master plan repositioned the historic structure as the civic heart of a new mixed-use district. Anchored by “The Circle,” a formal public space defined by a reflecting pool and open river views, the plan introduces high-density housing, offices, retail, cultural venues, and community facilities while preserving 45 percent of the site as public open space, including a six-acre waterfront park. Supported by major transit investment and a site-wide low-carbon energy strategy—featuring London’s largest Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power system—the restored Power Station is reborn as Europe’s largest zero-carbon building, catalyzing regeneration across the Nine Elms and Battersea areas of south-west London.
Sears Power Plant, Chicago - The historic Sears Power Plant was built in 1905–06 on Chicago’s West Side as part of the Sears, Roebuck & Company Complex, supplying heat and electricity to one of the world’s largest mail-order and corporate headquarters campuses. It is one of the few surviving structures of the original Sears facility and reflects early 20th-century industrial infrastructure and design. After decades of vacancy, the building was adaptively reused and transformed into the Charles H. Shaw Technology & Learning Center, a LEED-Platinum certified charter high school and community facility. This rehabilitation preserves industrial heritage while supporting sustainable contemporary use and neighborhood revitalization in North Lawndale.
Termoeléctrica Antonio Maceo, Regla, Havana, Cuba — A decommissioned thermoelectric plant in Regla, a predominantly Afro-Cuban working-class community across Havana Bay. Through Centro Bahía, artist Felipe Dulzaides is leading a visioning process, co-creating with community stakeholders, university students, and residents to imagine the site’s transformation. This collaborative approach explores possibilities for mangrove restoration, community space, and climate-resilient infrastructure — demonstrating how participatory processes can ensure frontline communities shape adaptive reuse strategies addressing both industrial heritage and environmental justice in coastal contexts vulnerable to sea-level rise.
A Critical Framework
The adaptive reuse of decommissioned power plants is no longer niche preservation — it is a critical lever for climate resilience, public health, and community benefit.
By reimagining these industrial giants as canvases for new life, we can:
- Remove toxic legacies and remediate contamination that threaten public health
- Deploy nature-based solutions — wetlands, living shorelines, mangroves — that stabilize vulnerable waterfronts and sequester carbon
- Preserve industrial heritage and embodied carbon, reducing waste and the carbon footprint of demolition + new construction
- Return privatized waterfronts to public access and create community amenities — parks, trails, green infrastructure, education centers
- Prioritize environmental justice for frontline communities that bore pollution burdens, ensuring adaptive reuse serves those harmed, not others
Webinar Program
2:00 – 2:15 PM | Welcome and Opening Remarks
- Norma Barbacci, Yale School of Architecture / Norma Barbacci Preservation Consultants LLC
- Anstress Farwell, New Haven Urban Design League
- Nina Rappaport, Yale School of Architecture
2:15 – 3:00 PM | Keynote Lecture
- Daniel Campo — Post-Industrial DIY: Reclaiming the Power Plant as Civic Space. Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, Morgan State University. Professor Campo will explore how decommissioned power plants can be transformed into civic spaces that serve communities, drawing on his research into postindustrial adaptive reuse and community-driven revitalization.
3:00 – 4:00 PM | Panel I — Reinventing Industrial Sites: Local Perspectives
- Manresa Wilds, Norwalk, CT – Ecological Renewal and Public Access on a 125-Acre Site.
- Jeremy Alain Siegel, AIA, AICP, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), New York.
- Aaron Vaden-Youmans, and Lola Sheppard, Grimshaw Architects.
4:00 – 5:20 PM | Panel II — Reinventing Industrial Sites: Global Perspectives
- Marco Ortíz, Rafael Viñoly Architects
- Douglass Farr, Principal, Farr Associates Architects and Urban Design, Chicago.
- Felipe Dulzaides, Artist and Founder, Centro Bahía, Havana, Cuba.
5:20 – 6:00 PM | Moderated Panel Discussion & Closing Remarks
- Moderator: Nina Rappaport, architectural critic, urbanist, curator, and educator. All speakers participate in a discussion: How can industrial heritage fuel a sustainable future?
Walking Tour: Post-Industrial Revitalization, English Station Power Plant and the Mill River District
Saturday, March 28, 2026, 2-4 PM or Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 10 AM - 12 Noon
The tour takes a 1 ½-mile route around English Station. Access on to the English Station property is not allowed at this time.
In coordination with the Yale School of Architecture webinar/symposium, “From Power to Possibility: Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Giants,” a walking tour of English Station and the Mill River district will be offered to the YSoA community.
English Station has been described as the “Crown Jewel” of New Haven because of its distinguished design and prominence on the city skyline. Though long neglected, the decommissioned power plant’s critical significance as the linchpin for the revitalization of New Haven’s post-industrial landscape has brought together neighborhood leaders, environmental experts, architects and engineers to weigh plans for its future. Once a symbol of New Haven’s decline, with the right combination of community support and political will, English Station is poised to become both a symbol and catalyst of a remarkable renaissance for the Fair Haven neighborhood, the restoration of the Mill River, the expansion of open space and trails, and an anchor for New Haven’s working waterfront.
Each tour is limited to 15 registrants. Register soon to reserve your place. Information on where to meet, how to get there, will be provided at registration.
Walking Tour Registration
