CO Adaptive

📣 Deconstructed glazed ceramic block for sale! We are excited to share a video by @hudlines that spotlights the process behind our recent deconstruction work at the 1954-built Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing. This project took hard work, and we are thankful for everyone involved in our ongoing efforts to reuse and share access to deconstructed material whenever possible. The glazed ceramic block we carefully removed and stored is available for sale, in two colors and a range of sizes. Please contact us if you are interested in including this beautiful material in an upcoming project. Watch the full video on our website at coadaptive.co/sparc and read more about it in a recent article by @patrickatempleton at @archrecordmag . □□□⁠ ⁠ #COAdaptive #Disassembly #Architecture #DesignBuild #Deconstruction

Meet CO Adaptive Disassembly, a division of @coadaptive that specializes in material salvage and deconstruction, who will be part of the circularity trade fair that precedes Current Work: Toward Circular Construction, with @felix.heisel . CO Adaptive is an unbuild, design, build practice that converts existing buildings from a linear economy to a circular one. Through CO Adaptive Disassembly, the firm offers early salvage assessment and deconstruction services at the start of construction and renovation projects, helping teams identify reuse potential, connect salvaged materials with new users, and navigate the market for reclaimed building components. 🗓️ Thu, May 14 @ 5:30 pm 📍 Lobby outside the Rose Auditorium at @thecooperunion 🎟️ Free and open to all, advanced registration required Stay tuned to learn more about other organizations and vendors at the circularity trade fair, including @materialsforthearts , RECLAIM NYC, @repaircafeelbarrio , @triloxworkshop , and @vitra Circle. Register at the link in bio. 📸 @coadaptive

Blending architecture and reuse, @coadaptive salvages materials like SPARC ceramic blocks designed for reuse and future disassembly. Book your visit to Sample House to explore our newest vendor collections. All images via @coadaptive

Join us at the League’s circularity-themed trade fair to meet a group of New York–based organizations and vendors leading the way on circular construction and material reuse, which will precede Current Work: Toward Circular Construction, with @felix.heisel 🗓️ Thu, May 14 @ 5:30 pm 📍 Lobby outside the Rose Auditorium at @thecooperunion 🎟️ Free and open to all, advanced registration required Participating organizations and vendors include: - CO Adaptive Disassembly, a division of @coadaptive that specializes in material salvage and deconstruction - @materialsforthearts , New York City’s largest reuse center that provides arts nonprofits, public schools, and city agencies with access to free, recycled art materials - RECLAIM NYC, an interdisciplinary group that develops circular economy policy proposals for New York City’s construction and building removal industry - @triloxworkshop , a Brooklyn-based research, design, and fabrication studio dedicated to creating scalable, sustainable architectural surfaces and objects made from wood - Vitra Circle, the Swiss furniture maker’s initiative to keep used @vitra furniture in circulation through buy-back and refurbishment Register at the link in bio.

For the renovation of this 1860s row house in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill we were careful to balance the brief to create an energy-efficient, climate-resilient home with a sensitive approach to this 160-year-old structure. The process was an exciting blend of rediscovery, repair, and intentional detailing to highlight the innate beauty of the home. We preserved elements original to the house while ensuring better energy performance and electrification; minimizing the embodied carbon required to update the house for 21st century living. We completed this renovation in 2023. □□□⁠ Construction Management: PLANE Remodeling MEP Engineer: ANZ Engineering Structural Engineer: @murrayengineering Finished Photography: @studionahokubota #COAdaptive #Brooklyn #Architecture #DesignBuild #PassiveHouse

A few more shots from the prototype installation of our prefabricated modular wall system for high-performance retrofits. This is a passion project of ours, and we are excited to use this location to both test our system and introduce more people to the importance of air-tightness towards climate resilience of our existing building stock. Stay tuned for events on @governorsisland open to the public! First up is an Earth Day related event on Saturday April 18th at 10am at the LMCC building! Ruth and Bobby will be giving an overview of the install. Link in bio. 📸 @retsieh □□□⁠ ⁠ #COAdaptive #Disassembly #Architecture #DesignBuild #PassiveHouse

In the news ✨ 
Our work on a modular wall system for Passive House retrofits was just featured in @archpaper by @elissavetam , highlighting a big step towards making high-performance retrofits more accessible. 
This prefabricated system made from reclaimed lumber is about bringing speed, affordability, and performance to the process of transforming existing buildings. We just installed and are testing a prototype at the LMCC Arts Center on Governors Island as part of the @governorsisland Climate Solutions Piloting Program. Take a peek if you’re on the island! 📸 [1-6] @retsieh [7] @liamahiggins □□□⁠ ⁠ #COAdaptive #Disassembly #Architecture #DesignBuild #PassiveHouse

💫Meet @coadaptive , one of the 2026 Emerging Voices💫 New York City–based design firm CO Adaptive’s work spans adaptive reuse and retrofits of residential, creative, and civic spaces. Founded in 2011 by Bobby Johnston and Ruth Mandl, the firm has progressively expanded its scope to include construction, deconstruction, and material salvage with the establishment of CO Adaptive Building and CO Adaptive Disassembly. This Thursday, hear from CO Adaptive and fellow awardee @cooperacion_comunitaria about their practices, followed by a conversation with @anamiljacki . 🗓️ Thur, Mar 19 🕑 12:30 pm ET 📍 Online 🎟️ Free and open to all. CEUs are available for League members who attend each event in its entirety. Register at the link in bio. #EV26 #EmergingVoices2026 Video editor: @darlenachiem

Not quite finished, but close. Materials are starting to speak and light is beginning to define this high-performance painting and music studio. Details are quietly doing their work. More soon. □□□⁠ ⁠ #COAdaptive #DesignBuild #Process #AdaptiveReuse #Architecture

Auditorium Seating from @huntercollege Brookdale School of Nursing Price: Free Location: E 25th Street, Manhattan, NY Quantity: 125 seats Transportation: Pick-up required. Preference for pickups by Friday, Feb 27th Beautiful steel auditorium seats available starting from New York City’s first public pilot project to undergo @nycedc Circularity Guidelines. Soon to become the future home of SPARC (Science Park and Research Campus) Kips Bay in Manhattan, this nursing school was originally constructed in 1954. @coadaptive is one of four deconstruction contractors selected by the EDC and @skanskausa to dismantle materials for reuse in other architectural project uses. These fixed seats are available in a blue steel back and side wall with newly upholstered with a red fabric over cushioned seat and backs. These seats are not retractable, but do fold-up to provide a minimal footprint. The wooden armrests serve as the seam between seats and they also conceal the seat linking. CO Adaptive is a group of unbuilders, architects, and builders who love circularity.

We are extremely proud and honored to be named a 2026 Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York. The biennial award recognizes eight practices across North America with distinct voices shaping the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism. The motivation behind our work has always been the desire to care for this beautiful planet, and the communities that we call home. It is beyond humbling to be recognized for the work that we do, and worth saying that we could not do it without our special clients, collaborators, and our fabulous team, past and present. While the CO in CO Adaptive is a nod to collaboration between people and planet, we have also learned that bridging between disciplines is essential to effecting change. We are building relationships around a common purpose, and creating community around furthering the cause of circularity in New York City and beyond. Thank you @archleague and the jury for this incredible recognition. We will be presenting an online lecture on March 19 at 12:30pm alongside @cooperacion_comunitaria . Head to archleague.org/emerging-voices for more info and to see the other amazing awardees! @bld.us @cooperacion_comunitaria @darcyjonesarchitects @french2d @futurefirm @g3.arquitectos @hopson_rodstrom_design 📸 [4,8-10] @donilee [5,6] @studionahokubota □□□⁠ #COAdaptive #EV26
#EmergingVoices #DesignBuild #Disassembly

We are thrilled and honored to be a part of this year’s @archpaper #TwentyToWatch list for residential architecture in New York! The homes we work on prioritize the mutually beneficial health of their inhabitants and the material cycles they’re built from. Focusing on the reciprocal well-being of a building’s occupants and the systems that bring it to life means we value process above that singular moment in time when a project of ours is completed. And yet...here are some beautiful photographs of precisely that moment by @studionahokubota 🙂 □□□⁠ #COAdaptive #Architecture #DesignBuild #AdaptiveReuse