The Elks Commons: Adaptive Re-use in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho

Abstract

During an age when the destruction of older buildings has been recognized as a loss to the urban fabric and as a major source of environmental pollution, adaptive re‐use is an increasingly desirable and profitable alternative to new construction as well as an interesting design challenge. After careful consideration of sites, I chose to renew the old home of the Elks Club in my hometown of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for my capstone project. Located centrally in the downtown core, the old brick building houses many memories for Coeur d'Alene locals and has the potential to once again become an integral part of the urban fabric. To revitalize the space, I developed a mixed‐use program that includes a restaurant, a cafe/market, two retail spaces and seven residential lofts. The development of the program involved a series of excavations and additions to the original structure that preserve the existing structural rhythm while creating juxtaposition between old and new. These interventions evolved from a series of sectional studies that facilitate the reconciliation of the materials and methods from the building's many decades of construction, while bringing its use and its quality of space into the twenty‐first century.