BRINGING NEW LIFE TO WORCESTER’S OLD SPACES JENNIFER RUSSO
First settled by the Nipmuc tribe, and then by the English who settled in 1674, Worcester is rich in history. In the 1800’s the city became a manufacturing and transportation hub with a new railroad, attracting immigrants from European countries looking for work. It became the center of machinery and construction and was a booming business area for some time. After some decline after the two World Wars, it picked back up again in the mid 1900’s with the building of two large hospitals, biomedical buildings, Route 290 and some of the area’s top colleges and universities. Fast forward to today. Investors and visionaries have been collaborating to renew the area and breathe into it a new life, realizing the true potential of the city. Renovations of Hanover Theater, Saint Vincent Hospital and Union Station in recent years, and newer structures like the convention center and Assumption’s new academic buildings. Many designers are looking at modernizing buildings that will change the architectural face of the city and provide more opportunity for an enhanced lifestyle, while still maintaining its historic charm.
Courthouse Post Card
VINCENT PACIFICO - TURNING GREAT PASSION INTO GREAT IDEAS Vincent Pacifico believes that historic buildings only add to the aesthetic of our New England towns and cities, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be rehabilitated for a more modern use. For Vincent, love of architecture and design began with building and carpentry. Being very into skateboarding when he was young and creating his own ramps to skate on sparked something in him. After a neighbor suggested he look into the architecture field, that spark turned into a flame. He later went to Roger Williams School of Architecture in Rhode Island, getting his Masters degree in the discipline. His graduate thesis included a reuse design for the vacant Goldstein Scrap Metal building located on Harding Street, down in the Canal district.
Vincent Pacifico, photo by Antoinette Pacifico
“I started to be very passionate about solving the complex problem of what to do with all of our vacant industrial buildings from the manufacturing days. We live in an area where our cities and towns are full of vacant and abandoned brownfield industrial sites with no current use and have since become dangerous structures prone to fires. Likewise, the areas are more prone to crime because there are no eyes on the street watching over our neighborhoods. This avenue of architecture is something that I decided I wanted to go down and tackle, living in the heart of it in New England,” says Vincent. With this as a major driver for him personally, Pacifico also believes strongly in networking of like-minded individuals. In 2019, he founded the Adaptive Buildings Network, a social space for designers, architects, city planners and urban advocates to come together and share ideas on urban redevelopment and adaptive reuse. He hosted his first event in Novem 6 M A RCH 20 21
The vacant Goldstein building on Harding St
Pacifico’s proposed exterior rendering
Pacifico’s proposed interior rendering (upper floor)
