In her recently published Big Box Reuse (see the starred Xpress Reviews), artist and writer Julia Christensen explores a promising civic movement—the remaking and remodeling of abandoned big-box stores into community centers like libraries. Xpress reviewer Cynde Suite chatted with the author about architectural sustainability and library renovation. Your educational background is in art, music, and electronic technology. What was the spark that led to Big Box Reuse? The project began as a photography and video project, documenting how communities are reusing big-box structures across the United States. While I traveled from site to site, I would share stories as I went along, and big-box renovators would ask me for tips and tales about how the last town had dealt with various issues—i.e., how did they deal with the pillars? How did they deal with the panes of glass on the front of the structure? I realized these stories needed to written down and circulated, and the book was born. Urban sprawl and urban renewal are constant in America, creating a landscape of identical features in every town. How would you encourage towns to become sustainable? What resources should they look to? First of all, I hope that towns will learn to take design matters back into their own hands, making decisions about the design of retail sites that are right for their town’s style and living patterns. Rather than blindly accepting Wal-Mart’s big-box plan, for instance, some towns are beginning to demand that the buildings be more easily reusable in the future, such as breaking up the façade into multiple entrances (which will allow multiusers to use the space in the future) or fully landscaping the lot. I hope that towns will become even more radical about their original design ideas so that we are not faced with such a homogenous, corporate landscape in coming years. Second, it is very important that we think of sustainability not just in terms of minimizing our environmental footprint, but also in terms of the future usefulness of the buildings that we construct. We must not think of construction as a temporary, disposable activity. Every building’s plan should include thinking about multiuse purposes so that we are always aware of how this building will affect our landscape in the future. You take a very personal look at specific sites across America. How were the sites chosen? I have visited more than 40 reused big-box buildings over the years, and people are constantly writing to me about their local sites. I recently built a web site, called WIKIREUSE [http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/wikireuse/], where people can post their own stories. The sites featured in the book offer a wonderful glimpse of not only how a town reused a big-box building but also tell an important story about how communities are changing in the United States. For instance, the chapter on the Spam Museum touches on downtown revitalization and town pride; the chapter on the charter schools touches on shifts in how we form school districts. Your book focuses on how communities benefit by restructuring abandoned big-box stores. Why are corporations so quick to vacate these structures? Is it greed or a lack of forethought. or, are the structures merely tax write-offs? We have been seeing a trend in the last few decades of many big-box retailers expanding to “super-stores” nearby. When they do so, they generally leave the original building vacant. Often these new, bigger buildings are very close to the original store. Aside from your suggestions, there are two main points that I have run into again and again, the first being that big-box retailers often see that it is cheaper to build a store from the ground up rather than close the current store in order to renovate or expand. The second is that when a big-box retailer moves across the street, it has just expanded its own real estate and land use control in that area. I was amazed by the level of community involvement in the library renovation that you featured. Was this an unusual response? Each story in the book reflects on an interesting aspect of current community life, and the library story is definitely about community involvement and teamwork. The library saw great potential in creating a new facility in the abandoned Kmart building, which was adjacent to a middle school and other community groups. In order to make it a real community project, they invited everyone to take part, and they offered an incentive. Everyone who donated any amount of time, money, or skills (from painting to tile laying) has his or her name embedded somewhere in the library. There are names of elementary school students in swirling clouds on murals in the kids library; there are names on plaques above rooms; there are names carved into leaves on a wooden tree at the entrance. Another question about the library: I was especially impressed with its radial design, where everything could be seen from the Main Desk. Did this design offer enough cozy spots for people to feel free to sit and read? Did they have to make special adjustments to reduce the echoing? The radial design was a great response to a typical big-box reuse challenge: maintaining a small staff size while taking over a much larger space. With the radial design, the librarian is able to view the whole library space from one point, at his or her desk. There are lots of nooks and crannies with comfortable sitting spaces for cozy reading, yes. The soft edges of the library give the whole space a comfortable feeling. Sound was not mentioned as a problem. How have you blended your love of art and music in this project? The project started as a photography project, and all the photos in the book are my own. These pictures are also exhibited in galleries and museums. I exhibit video, sound, and online “net art” pieces generated by the work as well. Currently, I have a solo show at Carnegie Mellon that features a structure that I built called the UnBox, which is a 1500-square-foot structure, built of locally sourced wood and materials, that folds up into a box of about 4' x 6' x 9'. After years of studying the big box, I wanted to create something that was “opposite,” so the UnBox is transportable, made of sustainable and recyclable materials, and used for purposes other than shopping. For instance, while in the gallery, art classes have installed projects inside the structure, reading groups meet there to discuss books about related issues like public space and sustainability, preservationist board meetings have happened in The UnBox. Almost all the projects highlighted in your book have become community centers like libraries, schools, and senior centers. Why aren’t more commercial businesses reclaiming big-box spaces? Oftentimes big-box retailers leave stipulations in their deeds or leases, determining what the sites may or may not be used for in the future. This is a strategy to ward off competition, so, for example, you can bet that a Wal-Mart building will never be used as a Kmart in its afterlife. Because of these retail stipulations, community and civic uses are emerging as creative renovators of big-box buildings. The reuse of the parking lot of an old Wal-Mart for a medical center in New Orleans is saddening. New Orleans has suffered devastating losses; it seems that there would be money available to purchase the abandoned Wal-Mart building and give the medical facility a more permanent and workable home. Do you have any updates on this? The only update I have is that when I visited New Orleans for another project last spring, I revisited the medical center site. The medical trailers were still in operation as of May of 2008.