Follow the Effects / Work / Project
C&O Roundhouse / Civic House
A new Civic House studies ordinary public life in relation to retained industrial buildings in Covington.
Ongoing · academic thesis
- Date / period
- 2026–present
- Place
- Covington, Kentucky
- Contribution
- Adam Scott, independent academic thesis and site research.
The C&O Roundhouse / former Duro Bag property in Covington is the working thesis site. The intervention boundary remains under study.
The current target is approximately 40,000 gross square feet of new construction. Retained and adapted buildings are additional to that target. A component atlas and comparable early test fits are the next architectural steps.
Hospitality, learning, making, gathering and discreet private support are program hypotheses. The project examines how new rooms, old fabric and public space could work together over time.
Site research is academic preparation. Owner access, condition, legal and environmental restrictions, detailed program and technical approvals remain unresolved. There is no approved demolition scheme or claim of a commissioned development.
Current thesis principles treat the Civic House as an adaptable framework: durable structure and public thresholds, with uses and smaller spaces capable of change. Observation, precedent comparison and the evidence register guide the questions; they do not establish that a particular design will produce social outcomes. Earlier site-specific proposal studies remain part of the research history rather than a current construction commitment.
Select an image to enlarge it in a new tab.
An industrial site over time
The roundhouse and rail yard provide historical context for the current thesis inquiry. Retained fabric and present-day constraints require separate site evidence.
Sanborn fire-insurance map, Covington, 1909, sheet 38. The C&O repair shops, tracks, turntable and roundhouse document the site’s industrial history. Sanborn Map Company; Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. Historical evidence, not a current condition survey.
University of Notre Dame. Conversations and records inform study; no owner or stakeholder endorsement is implied.