My final thesis project at the BAC examined a site disturbance a city experiences when the economy changes, when factories that defined a place are packed up and buildings are left as empty shells. I looked at a set of mill buildings in Holyoke Massachusetts. What was once a booming complex of large brick buildings with timber-frame working floors and an operational hydroelectric damn had become five disused lots with one large building left standing amongst vacant lots. I visited the site, spoke with representative of city government and businesses nearby, and I looked back at the history of the Merrick Thread Company. The site had become disconnected from the city around it, even from adjacent blocks, some of which were empty but most of which contained open businesses and new housing.
For my thesis proposal I developed a plan to reconnect the site to the city through the adaptive reuse of the still-standing mill building into new mixed-use space for life and work to go on. The existing timber frame on e
