In cities across the United States, old factories, schools, railroad stations and other buildingsare being renovated (翻新) for new uses. City planners and private inventors are finding that good buildings, no
matter how old , can be remodeled for new purposes. "If you"d asked someone four or five years ago
whether he"d rent an apartment in an abandoned piano factory or clothing warehouse (大商店), he"d
have thought you were crazy,," says a New York architect. "Today, many people are eager to do it."
Only a few decades ago, renovation was unpopular and generally far more expensive than taking
down abandoned9 (抛弃) buildings and starting from the beginning. A change began in the 1990s with a
number of well-advertised projects. They included Chirardelli Square in San Francisco, where an old
chocolate factory was renovated and made into shops and restaurants, Trolley Square in Salt Lake City,
where an abandoned car warehouse became a shopping centre.
What caused the change? " One reason is nostalgia(怀旧)," a san Francisco builder suggests.
"Maybe old is better than new, many people are saying. Feelings about preserving attractive or historic
buildings have changed a great deal." A second cause is econom
y. The cost of tearing down an old
building and constructing a new one from nothing now has risen to the point where it is often less
expensive to fix a solid older structure.
Even when the costs of renovation are the same as or a bit more than the costs of putting up a new
building, fixing the old building may be better. Gradually, architects and builders are developing
knowledge about renovation and preservation, bringing imagination and creativity to the job.