Adaptive Reuse Playbook: Turning Obsolescence into Value By: Shahbaz Ghafoori Buildings and structures often outlive their original purpose. Adaptive reuse transforms this obsolescence into value—preserving embodied energy, maintaining cultural resonance, and giving new life to underused or abandoned assets. As land becomes scarcer and sustainability imperatives tighten, the adaptive reuse playbook offers methods to breathe new life into existing built fabric using creative design, community engagement, and strategic policy support. Why Adaptive Reuse Matters Demolition involves waste—both material and cultural—and significant carbon emissions. Reuse mitigates these impacts by retaining structural shells, architectural elements, and site history. Projects like old factories turned into galleries or warehouses into mixed-use housing exemplify how adaptive reuse can preserve memory, generate social value, and reduce environmental cost. Reuse is not a fallback...
Restoration, Not ReArchitecture: Why the IRIB Glass Building Deserves Respect, Not a Design Contest By Shahbaz Ghafoori The IRIB Glass Building in Tehran, designed in the late 1960s by the Office of Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian, is not just another public structure. It is one of the most important brutalist buildings in Asia and a landmark of modern Iranian architecture. Its bold use of exposed concrete and transparent glass reflects both technical confidence and cultural sensitivity, combining global modernism with local context. With its distinctive form, detailed planning, and clear relationship to the urban surroundings, the building goes far beyond function. It carries symbolic weight; as part of Iran’s architectural legacy and as a spatial memory linked to national media and identity. Recently, the Roads and Urban Development Minister proposed a design competition to "ReArchitecture"(renovate) this building, using the Boomoosa urban design compe...