From School to Housing: A Typological Analysis for the Adaptive Reuse of Historic Public Schools in Oklahoma City, USA

Abandoned historic schools in the USA have become a growing concern for urban communities, presenting a multifaceted issue that impacts social, environmental, and economic aspects of public life. Several factors contribute to the abandonment of historical public educational facilities, including demographic shifts, economic changes, and funding cuts. Since the postwar era, the economic and demographic decline of U.S. urban cores has left many interwar-period schools unmaintained and vacant. This neglect has led to informal occupation, declining neighborhood property values, increasing public maintenance costs, and, in many cases, demolitions. Focusing on Oklahoma City as a case study, this paper investigates the adaptive reuse viability of pre-World War 2 public schools. By analyzing 18 schools in the city’s urban core, we explore their typological characteristics through historical research, cluster analysis, and precedent study. Given the current housing affordability crisis in the USA, this study explores the possibility of repurposing historic school buildings into affordable housing, discussing the main design challenges associated with such conversions. Specifically, the reuse of historic schools into multifamily housing offers an opportunity to tackle housing affordability challenges while enhancing community values and meeting preservation goals. The paper concludes with a set of design guidelines outlining key considerations for converting schools into residential use. The findings and recommendations can be generalized to similar contexts across the USA and other global cities facing concurrent issues of urban decay and housing shortage.