"Don't give children crayons and traditional coloring books," say the creative art educators.

"Instead, give them blank pieces of paper and crayons. Let them use their own imagination! Children should not be forced to color within the lines!"

Tenants of the American Tobacco Historic District have been given thousands of square feet, in some instances, acres of blank pages in a coloring book from which they can design their individual spaces. Each tenant, to a degree, is allowed to use creative means to enhance the original building design with a marriage to contemporary needs.

Typically, remodeling in large open areas such as old factory buildings results in the floor space divided by new petitions to create new workspaces. This method has not been employed by McKinney & Silver in the Reed Building.

In a building with some of the most beautifully exposed structural yellow pine, this firm has erected little buildings within the Reed Building to create new offices and workspaces as opposed to simply chopping up the floor space with traditional petitions.

In a sense, this grouping of little buildings within the Reed Building, with varying shapes, roof designs and floor plans, has created the essence of a little village all under one parent roof with sky lights.

The accompanying photo is of one office area with curved beams exposed for its roof design. Some little buildings in this "little village" of offices in the Reed Building are of typical A-frame design while others curve around a center, glass-enclosed tower three stories tall in the center of the building.

The precedent set by McKinney & Silver has far reaching implications for other future tenants of the Historic District. Wide open floor space can be like a blank coloring book where the architects and designers do not have to color within the lines on their blueprints.

Bottom line, the restoration of these buildings on 16 acres in Downtown Durham is doing more than just stimulate the economy, it is stimulating creativity.

Future generations of historians will take note of the creative endeavors of any society.