Trade School Auditorium, USA

This disused Trade School Auditorium was once part of a large vocational training school. The dramatic Art Deco and Classical Revival building is perched high on a hill, overlooking the city below. This location was above much of the air pollution produced by the city’s steel mills and heavy industry below the hill. The school was built around 1930, costing over $1.5 million.

1500-1800 students a year attended this well-appointed school, with classes running both day and night in order to meet the student’s needs. There were around 30 workshops, enabling practical training in a variety of skilled trades. Classes would include; carpentry, bricklaying, plastering, plumbing, masonry, automobile mechanics, electrical wiring etc.

The trade school evolved with the decades, providing relevant education programmes to the local workforce. In the 1950s agriculture was added to the training options. By the 1990s, the school was offering classes in computer technology, literacy, medical skills alongside the more traditional vocational curriculum.

Sadly, a progressive and constantly updated roster was not enough to save the school. The local manufacturing and industrial sectors steeply declined in the 1990s. As the workforce left the city en-masse, in search of better prospects elsewhere, attendance at the trade school plummeted. In the final year of operation, there were around 700 students (way below economic operating capacity). There were also extensive budget cuts in the 1990s, the final nail in the coffin for this once prestigious establishment. The school was forced to close in the mid-2000s

Over a decade later, the building has reopened. This latest incarnation serves as a business centre, promoting and fostering green energy research and sustainable practices. There are collaboration projects with local universities and colleges, as well as workforce development and training programmes hosted here. The renovation of the trade school also provided an exemplary case study for a sustainable rejuvenation of an older building. The deconstruction and salvage of the old building were carefully planned, with a focus on minimising the carbon footprint. This old lecture theatre lays disused, gathering dust behind closed doors.