Recently there is a rising number of old building transformed into a new and educational buildings. For example, the River Cottage which located in Devon of southwest England, was successfully transformed from a disused farm building into a sustainable farming and cooking school that promotes organic cooking and sustainable farming practices.
The interior of the River Cottage
The exterior of the River Cottage
There is another example where the old cellar of a 7th-century landmark building in Spain was transformed into a local gallery showing the history of wine making. The cellar also includes a wine shop, a kitchen for visitors to take cooking classes, and spaces for lectures and concerts. 
The interior of the cellar showing the wine jars
Despite the historical values of preserving the old buildings and giving it a new identity to the space, it is also a sustainable method to minimised the construction waste produced in the demolition or reconstruction process. In Hong Kong , my hometown, most of the old buildings( even buildings with heritage value) were pull down for new skyscrapers or offices. There are tons and tons of constructions waste produced in Hong Kong every year. The demolition process and the construction process were speeded up by the improvement of technologies. All the construction waste were sent to Hong Kong landfills, the limited size of landfills in Hong Kong has already reached the maximum capacity.
As the urbanisation and the growth of city continues, more and more landfills will be needed in the future. But instead we should think how can we minimise the construction waste, transforming the old buildings is definitely one of the ways. Or recycling building materials like timbers and steels is also a way to reduce the construction waste. One may say it is difficult to turn an old building with its original layout to another layout, but I think it is the challenge where all of us as an architects should be able to tackle and create something creative like the two projects above.
Historic 7th-century cellar in Spain renovated to celebrate the history of wine-making. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/historic-7th-century-cellar-in-spain-renovated-to-celebrate-the-history-of-wine-making/
Disused farm buildings are transformed into a sustainable farming and cooking school. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/disused-farm-buildings-are-transformed-into-a-sustainable-farming-and-cooking-school/
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