Adaptive Reuse in Ennis Hall

Georgia College recently reopened Ennis Hall after a 2-year renovation.  Check out Connection Magazine for the whole story on how the university has repurposed this building.  Originally built as a residence hall in 1918, it is now the new home of our art department.  Rather than do a complete restoration project that would have restored Ennis to its original glory as a residence hall, the university chose adaptive reuse instead.  In adaptive reuse, you take a building that has good bones and use it in a way that makes sense for your organization, the environment, and your budget.  Most of our campus buildings are restored for adaptive reuse because their original use is no longer relevant for a modern campus.

Picture available at gcsu.edu website

A Blast from the Past.  The original Ennis also had a circular drive and green space.  In recent years, this drive was a parking lot. The regional, drought tolerant plants add to the sustainability of this LEED Silver building.

I just thought this was interesting.  It looked like a stage with lights in the center of the green space.  I am not sure of the purpose of this square stone with lights.  I'll just call it art since it's in front of the art building, but I wondered if it has some sustainable purpose.

As I walked around the building, I did not see any signage noting the sustainable aspects of the building like we saw summer during our tour of Athens Tech this summer.  I think that with a historic building, extra signage would clutter the space and take away from the beauty of the building.