Sustainability Report
Operational Emissions / Energy
During the renovation of the building, several measures were implemented to improve its energy performance. First, the thermal insulation of the building envelope was enhanced by installing internal lining systems on the façades of the accommodation units, incorporating rock wool insulation.
In addition, a heat recovery unit was integrated into the ventilation system in order to recover energy from the exhaust air and reduce the energy demand associated with indoor air renewal.
The external joinery was also replaced, with new units incorporating solid timber frames and glazing with improved thermal performance, thereby contributing to better overall insulation of the building.
Finally, the building services system allowed the thermal energy generated by the outdoor air-conditioning units to be used for domestic hot water (DHW) production, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the installation.
Afterlife
The project is itself based on an adaptive reuse strategy, transforming a former office building into a 15-unit apartment-hotel while preserving the protected structure and recovering its original residential logic. The intervention prioritizes selective subtraction rather than replacement, removing incompatible later additions and re-establishing a legible layout based on the original window rhythm. The building’s geometry, with a broad street façade and limited depth, supports compact, naturally lit units and consolidated service bands, which gives the plan a clear and efficient organization. Flexibility is further supported by placing the new stair in a secondary structural bay and by reconfiguring the ground-floor lobby to achieve barrier-free access, allowing the building to meet contemporary standards through limited interventions concentrated in secondary areas rather than through irreversible changes to the main fabric.
The project incorporates independent, prefabrication-ready service modules that consolidate bathrooms, kitchens, heating and cooling, and ventilation into discrete elements. These modules do not load or modify the primary structure and can be installed with minimal disruption to the protected fabric, which also means they are the elements with the greatest potential for future removal, replacement, upgrading, or reuse. By contrast, the main heritage fabric is conceived primarily for preservation and repair rather than disassembly, so the circular potential is concentrated mainly in the building services and modular fit-out components rather than in the structural or historic envelope elements.