Adaptive Reuse

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In 1998, Design West purchased an old mill in the historic neighborhood of Logan, UT, and transformed it into a beautiful space for architectural offices. 

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Mills Played Crucial Role in Cache Valley's Settlement

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DuHadway, K. (2012, July 11).
Mills played crucial role in Cache Valley's settlement. The Herald Journal News
https://www.hjnews.com/features/life/mills-played-crucial-role-in-cache-valleys-settlement/article_05ae3bec-cac6-11e1-8246-001a4bcf887a.html

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[Design West Architects] occupies the building that once housed the Anderson Mill and Lumber Company, which made finished wood products such as cabinets.

 

Tony Wegener, senior vice president at Design West, said when the architectural design firm bought the old mill in 1998, the windows were all broken out and it had fallen, unused, into dilapidation and disrepair.

 

“In the eyes of most people, it was a piece of junk,” Wegener said. “But we’re in the business of having a vision for what things could be, and we just decided that this is where we really wanted to be, so we bought it.”

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Now, Wegener said the mill, which is listed on the Utah Register of Historic Places, is a peaceful, creative space for those who work there, a place designers would give their “eye teeth” to be in.

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Employees at Design West enter the building via a bridge crossing the canal. Inside, the space is lit primarily by the original skylights built into the ceiling and large windows that were designed to facilitate cross ventilation. In the summertime in 1915, when the mill was built, Wegener said the windows were opened at night to allow the breeze to fill the building, then closed and covered during the day to keep the building cool.

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Wegener said all of the power driving the mill’s woodworking machines was derived from the fast-moving canal, which was diverted through a large turbine in the bottom level of the building. The turbine powered a series of wooden and metal augers mounted on the ceiling of the lower level — now occupied by J.J. Cole, a baby supply company — which in turn drove the machines on the upper level, using leather belts that came up through the floor.

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The leftover sawdust from the manufactured wood products was burned in a furnace used to heat a boiler, also on the lower level, which heated the building during the wintertime, Wegener said.

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“When they talk about green buildings today, this is as green as it gets,” Wegener said. “It was an amazing place in the old days when it was first built, and must have been what I would call a humming place, with leather belts flying.”

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Wegener said Design West took great care to preserve the historic nature of the building when refurbishing it for use as an office. All of the woodwork inside is original, sandblasted to restore it to its original state and color. The walls are original too, although insulated and reinforced to meet modern standards for earthquake safety.

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Wegener said people will often come in and ask to see what the company has done with the building, remembering the mill from their childhood. He said the Anderson family still holds family reunions there.

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“A lot of people have a soft spot in their hearts for this building,” Wegener said.