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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Sustainable Design and Construction
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1455166

Adaptive Reuse for Sustainable Urban Development: Vertical Farming in Former Department Stores. German Case Study

Provisionally accepted
Hanna Bonekämper Hanna Bonekämper 1,2*Kunibert Lennerts Kunibert Lennerts 1,2
  • 1 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 2 Institute for Technology and Management in Construction, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Geo and Environmental Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Since digitalization has changed people's shopping behavior, department stores have partly become obsolete. Concepts for adaptive reuse can help avoid future vacancies or counteract existing ones. However, developing viable concepts for reuse is challenging due to the layout of department stores, particularly regarding building depth, which limits natural light penetration throughout the structure.While vertical farming as a technology is not new, its integration into former department stores is. The unique contribution of this work lies in offering new perspectives on repurposing the growing number of vacant retail spaces. Through an architectural case study, this research explores how vertical farming could be implemented in such buildings. Using a department store in Wuppertal, Germany, as an example, the proposed solution is tailored to the site’s structural conditions. Methods from the field of architecture were applied, including a site analysis followed by an iterative design process that progressed from conceptual planning to detailed development. The results include floor plans, elevations, sections, and visualizations. The proposed design indicates that these buildings are well-suited for vertical farming, offering significant added value to the city. This contribution provides an interdisciplinary concept that uncovers further research questions.

    Keywords: Adaptive reuse, Vacant building, Department stores, Vertical farming, sustainable urban development (SUD), Mixed-use urban development, urban studies

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Bonekämper and Lennerts. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hanna Bonekämper, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.