The Gere Block is a historic factory in West Syracuse, New York, that now functions as an art gallery. There, earlier this year, group collectivea handful of architects, educators, designers, and artists who met as visiting faculty in the architecture department of Syracuse Universitystaged Animals, a group show that weighed in on adaptive reuse in Rust Belt cities, like Syracuse. group collectiveconsists of Ayesha Ghosh, Edgar Rodriguez, Laura Salazar, Lauren Scott, Magdalena Valdevenito, Pablo Sequero, Rocio Crosetto, and Juan Balsa. Each member contributed a small scale intervention that was installed in Gere Block. These works are referred to as animals by the curators in their project statement.Many of the installations are coated in lime green paint. (Anna Morgowicz/ESTO)Curators note that these animals are meant to activate the former factory building by enabling diverse uses, from small gatherings to performances. These installations were assembled with a variety of materials like steel brackets, and wood, but theyre unified by the lime green paint that coats them, making the exhibition extra brat. This is all meant to challenge visitors to reconsider the factory buildings potentialand that of Syracuse more broadly.Economic, off-the-shelf materials were used for the group show. (Anna Morgowicz/ESTO)The decision to host Animals at Gere Block is a fitting one, given its own past. At first, Gere Block was a warehouse, servicing boats on the Erie Canal. Then it was used to produce fire trucks and paint. You can still see slivers of the buildings limestone foundation, and its tattered walls bear witness to stagnation in Syracuses deindustrialized economy since the Nixon era. All of this makes Gere Block a fitting choice to host the show, and function as a center for conversation about the Rust Belts past, present, and future. The animals are mobile, utilitarian objects made from reclaimed on-site materials like shelves and wooden structures, the curators said in a statement.Foliage abounds at the group show. (Anna Morgowicz/ESTO)(Anna Morgowicz/ESTO)Disassembled, cleaned, painted, and reassembled, these pieces reinterpret architectural elements such as platforms, walls, benches, pyramids, curtains, and columns, the curators continued. The interventions prioritize minimal impact on the building, fostering a flexible, temporary use during its renovation phase. This approach, curators said, was a cost effective and inclusive model that could be a case study for utilizing former industrial spaces in towns like Syracuse.The curators of the show assembled in the gallery space. (Anna Morgowicz/ESTO) Animals opened on May 31 and wasjust the first effort by group collective to reimagine Gere Block. More recently, the group was awarded an Independent Projects grant from New York State Council on the Arts and The Architectural League of New York for $10,000. The 25 awarded proposals encompass a range of design disciplines and engaging locales throughout New York State and were selected by a panel of design experts.The grant will fund a second iteration of group collectives work, titled In-Process: Alternative Methods in Reading Evolving Buildings. This exhibition will feature new and archival drawings, photographs, and models alongside the animals, with the goal of presenting the Gere Block as a case study for reimagining abandoned industrial buildings as spaces in a state of continual construction, Rodriguez, a member of group collective, cofounder and principal of operadora, and assistant professor at Syracuse University, shared.Additionally, in the text published with the announcement of the Independent Projects grant, the curators stated that the exhibition will display how to read and revitalize existing building stock in post-industrial cities, inviting visitors to engage with strategies of continual adaptation and collective narratives in their own built environments.In-Process: Alternative Methods in Reading Evolving Buildings will open in April 2025.