Space Design

The biggest difference between time and space is that you can’t re-use time.

This is a story of the regeneration of an 110-year old, decrepit mill house into a vital workspace by Zia Khan.

Built in the antebellum era, the Mill Village, where this property was located, housed workers of the three cotton mills founded by Roswell King along Vickery Creek in Roswell, Georgia. The mills did not survive Sherman’s army en route to Atlanta, but the village did.

The mills were rebuilt and operational until the 1970s when they eventually fell to the march of modernity, and with it the village itself began to decay.

After earning its rightful place in the National Register of Historic Places in the 1990s, a renewed interest in this area motivated a few pioneers to redevelop the village, by now known as The Dump.

The original structure was built, in circa 1890, as a single-story home constructed entirely of hand-sawn heart of pine planks and wood molded brick. In 1999, a 10-month renovation process was undertaken. While retaining more than 90% of the original material and adhering to strict Historic Preservation Commission oversight, new life was breathed into this gem that will allow it to be productive for at least another 100 years.

The original structure was hand-cranked six feet into the air using manual jacks. Below, the land was excavated, new foundation poured, a new ground floor built and the house set back down to create a two-story building. Then the exterior and interior were completely restored, renovated and modernized for use as a creative workspace.