This thesis explores how adaptive reuse can be applied to the development of an abandoned industrial site in Moraine, Ohio. General Motors (GM) recently closed its Moraine Assembly plant south of Dayton, Ohio on December 23, 2008. The plant’s plot covers 300-acres and, at one time, employed 5,000 workers. Its loss leaves the city, a suburb of Dayton, without one of its major job sources and a large abandoned industrial site.
In 1917, a structure intended to house the manufacturing operations of DELCO (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) was built in Moraine, OH. Upon completion, the building was purchased by the Dayton Wright Airplane Company. In 1926, the building was converted into a manufacturing plant for General Motors’ Frigidaire division. The plant was expanded in 1950, and remained in use by Frigidaire until 1979 when General Motors sold the division. The plant was then renovated and retooled to become a truck and SUV manufacturing plant for General motors in 1981. The plant became one of the most productive truck and SUV plants for General Motors, but declining sales forced the company to shut down the plant in 2008.
Can the history of change and evolution inherent on the Moraine Assembly site inform us, today, how to approach its future? Elements existing on the site can be reused to create a city center, including business incubators, for the community. These reused elements act as a visual reminder to the community’s history, while also serving to support its present and future.