Historic building

The Valencian studio Viruta Lab signs the rehabilitation and interior design of this historic house of 85m2. Original architectural elements, pre-existing materials and the soul of this popular neighborhood are elevated through a respectful recovery in which the sentimental value has been essential. Return the sentimental value to the homeThis historic house of 85m2 square is a small jewel of the most seafaring neighborhood of Valencia: the Cabanyal. A two-storey building, from 1946, which needs to be restored to its hidden splendor, overshadowed for too many years by its closure, humidity and the passage of time. Thus, it was a modest residence where the grandparents of the current owner used to live. A place of immeasurable sentiment... More

Casa Boa Esperanca is a historic landmark building perched on the edge of a small promontory in the fishing village of Ferragudo, Algarve, Southern Portugal. Due to local planning policies, several restrictions were placed on the building. This led to the need for a careful and sensitive approach to the restoration. The concept consisted primarily of the installation of new timber structures within the existing walls. This solution enabled open spaces to be created within the existing footprint and views of the sea to be greatly enhanced. The new structural elements of the renovation were left exposed and a large studio space was created within the former roof void. The building is flooded with light due to the insertion of several ro... More

This project was a design study to explore the design language and massing for a proposed new residential tower in the Historic Core of downtown Los Angeles.  Clad in shades of blue glass, the project sought to exploit the materiality of glass in novel ways by deploying it to maximize its sense of mass and density.  Building from a deep, dark, heavily textured base, the project evolves as it rises to culminate in light blue glass where the building meets the sky, along the way transitioning from a language of dense mass to one of light planarity, enabling the insertion of recessed outdoor balconies within the upper levels.​ Caption Caption The massing angles and jogs as the building rises, creating relationships that al... More

Reconstruction of history They do not always build offices in new modern administrative buildings with doubled floor and modular layout system. Sometimes, the company decides to stay in their long-term headquarters and renovate it. Even if it has some bad predisposition and restrictions, but also it’s own Genium loci and history. This was the case of the Trade Fides technological company, which is a specialist on safety systems and IT technology. It has been based in the wider center of Brno, which transforms into a modern administrative city center. They decided to insert modern offices into the existing building. Caption Modern environment in historic object New spaces located on the ground floor of a two-storey building fro... More

At the heart of Geneva's old town, Café Slatkine reinvents the genre of the literary cafe, books on one side and bottles on the other.    Opened in 1918 by Mendel Slatkine, the venue is an unmissable, centenary-old institution of Calvin's city. For a long time, it worked as a bookshop only. Two generations later, it made sense to convert the space into a literary cafe, combining the intellectual legacy to something more telling of our time.    In a relatively confined space, narrow in places and with an open window front on the street, the challenge was to bring together books and bottles, mixing heritage and contemporaneity, fiction authors with gossips at the counter. To do so, the architects designed two la... More

The 25,000sqm NOI (Nature of Innovation) Techpark in Bolzano, one of Italy’s most desirableareas to live and work, is designed to house a wide range of innovation companies, university research institutionsand training centres as an engine for economic development throughout the South Tyrol region.   Originally home to an aluminum factory, the plant was the biggest aluminum producer in Italy from 1937 until it closed. Both the owner and the designersdecided to achieve for the new building the target of nearly Zero Energy Building.NOI Techpark achieved LEED v4 Neighbourhood Development Gold sustainability certification, first in Europe, second in the World.   The client brief was to create a technologypark at a disused fo... More

Located in calle Marqués de Casa Riera, next to the historic Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid and near Gran Via, calle Alcalá and Plaza de las Cortes. Located near the important tourist attractions in Madrid: Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Cibeles, Plaza de Neptuno, Puerta del Sol, Puerta de Alcalá, Thyssen Bornemisza Museum and the Prado Museum.The INNSIDE Madrid Suecia is the perfect option for your visit to Madrid thanks to its excellent location in the city centre, the quality of its personalised service and its full and comfortable facilities.Modern yet charming, the INNSIDE Madrid Suecia has achieved the perfect balance between an historic building and modern facilities. More

Today, hotel guests encounter bright, welcoming corridors where children once used to run in this former school house. The classrooms, staffroom and secretary‘s office have all been turned into comfortable hotel rooms. Lorch am Rhein in Germany has therefore gained an interesting hotel with a pleasant past.Constructed almost 80 years ago, the rigorous Bauhaus style interior design is still recognisable in the former school building. The renovation and modernisation work was therefore carried out with corresponding care. Red accent walls combined with simple lines serve to create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere in the black-and-white corridors.The corridors of the four-storey hotel are lit by timeless wall luminaires made from trilamina... More

Green Pastures is a historic Victorian home with beautiful reclaimed antique pine heart floors.  It houses a restaurant of the same name in south Austin, Texas in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. Completed in 1895 by local minister E.W. Herndon, the house sat on 23 acres bordering a wooded area to the south. It was home to a number of families over the years.  Green Pastures Restaurant was established by Mary Faulk Koock and husband Chester Koock.  Mary remodeled the home in 1946 and began serving guests that same year. Thus, the transition commenced from the sturdy old farmhouse into a restaurant known as Green Pastures. The restaurant was an immediate success and featured not only Southern food, but gourmet French cooking... More

Lambert & Fils puts down roots in New York CityLambert & Fils launches Hudson and Duane, a showroom in the heart of Tribeca's design district, to celebrate their tenth anniversary. The showroom inaugurates with five showpieces that introduce the brand's new Atelier line.   Ten years of making lightFounder Samuel Lambert couldn’t have predicted where Lambert & Fils would be in 2020 when he signed a lease on a tiny storefront on Rue Beaubien ten years ago. Originally working alone, restoring and creating lamps from antique parts, he quickly sparked the interest of Montrealers and soon expanded the team. The studio’s first true collection was an instant hit, with the Atomium remaining one of their best-selling pi... More

HubHub Na Příkopě 14, a unique coworking space for individuals and larger teams, is located just a few meters from the famous Wenceslas Square. HubHub offers a combination of variously sized office space, fix desks and flexi desks for smaller startups and individuals. The historic building in the center of Prague has been renovated and modern coworking offices have been established on two floors. An important factor in interior design was to create as many diverse spaces for individuals and larger groups - small offices with one desk, phone booths, large offices for the entire team and meeting and conference rooms. Common areas are made in shades of gray in combination with black lacquered profiles of partitions and door panels. Te... More

This is one of a series of ten similar projects throughout London where we have used forensic analysis of the building over time to inform their best and most sympathetic onward use.   This row of red-brick Knightsbridge townhouses built in 1885, is typical of Victorian developments right across London. Each home stacks generous family accommodation between a basement kitchen and attic servants’ quarters, a clarity of arrangement now obscured by decades of subdivisions and additions. This project presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to renovate all six storeys of a single 6,000 sqft townhouse, converting it into a series of smaller apartments.   Our forensic exploration of the history of the building uncovered it... More