Adaptive reuse, the process of refashioning a defunct structure for a new purpose, is ubiquitous these days?so much so that hearing a phrase like ?converted warehouse? or ?repurposed factory? barely causes one to blink an eye. However, a new project from a cohort of Dutch architecture firms highlights the innovative nature of adaptive reuse with a scheme that reimagines disused cargo ships as houses. With their fully intact exterior shells, the ships remind residents and visitors of their industrial, seafaring past. 

Courtesy of Studio Komma

Adaptive reuse, the process of refashioning a defunct structure for a new purpose, is ubiquitous these days?so much so that hearing a phrase like ?converted warehouse? or ?repurposed factory? barely causes one to blink an eye. However, a new project from a cohort of Dutch architecture firms highlights the innovative nature of adaptive reuse with a scheme that reimagines disused cargo ships as houses. With their fully intact exterior shells, the ships remind residents and visitors of their industrial, seafaring past. 
Courtesy of Studio Komma

The collaboration between architecture firms Studio Komma, Studio Kees Marcelis, and landscape architect Buro Poelmans Reesink will bring between six and fourteen defunct ships back to life in a public park, the Marine-doc Estate. The project will entail the reuse of Kempenaar, a Dutch cargo ship that has ?reached the end of [its] economic lifespan? on water. Lif...