Historic building

History of the old structure:      Dissangis is an old wine village. Most of the constructions in the village are made of stone because it is a limestone area. The construction is an old farmhouse. It was built in the 1850s. The stones comes from a nearby quarry. The main part of the building was used for storing animal fodder and a stable for cows. The inhabitants of the Village came in the evening to collect milk for their families. Stone is very present in construction, as well as wood. The frame was made with oak which was cut from the nearby forest. In the 1950s, the owner added a steel structure to follow up with the development of agriculture.​​​​​​​The concept:      The intention of the archit... More

MVRDV completes Concordia Design Wrocław, transforming a heritage building into a dynamic creative hotspot MVRDV has completed construction of Concordia Design, a mixed use building containing co-working spaces, an event venue, a food hall, a café, and a rooftop terrace on Słodowa Island in Wrocław, Poland. The project is a renovation and extension of a 19th-century listed building, retaining the façade of the existing building and adding a contemporary extension to create a focal point for the neighbouring park and a destination that will enhance the experience of the island for visitors.   Słodowa Island has a complex and important history – the existing building is the only structure that remained on the islan... More

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is sited on the axis of Benjamin Franklin Parkway that connects the city center with Fairmount Park, the largest urban park in the world. Many prominent institutions and notable buildings line the great diagonal boulevard to create a remarkable cultural corridor. Located adjacent to the Museum is the Perelman Building, formerly the headquarters of the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company, designed in 1927 by Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary, and considered today as the most significant example of Art Deco style architecture in the city.   The new Auditorium restores the commanding views of the Parkway by opening up the (formerly blocked) flanking rows of historic windows. With transparency restored betwe... More

The history of the project goes back to 1990s, when a national competition was opened in 1992 for the design of presidential symphony orchestra concert hall on a vacant land between Ulus and Sıhhiye, the old and new quarters of Ankara. The site contained a segment of the railway, with old traction ateliers and train maintenance sheds (three identical units dating from 1920s, with a longer unit added later). Being four adjacent units in total, all were intended to be removed from the site. In 1995, after the architects of the winning project started work for the presidential symphony concert hall, decision was taken for the transformation of these old sheds into an art museum. In the meantime, the railroad was rerouted and two of the three i... More

The vast, two-story SoCal abode we've designed for Tartine Manufactory DTLA houses an ecosystem of high-volume artisanal food and beverage concepts, including food production, restaurants, cafes and a marketplace under one umbrella. Karyn Millet Occupying an entire building at ROW DTLA in LA's Arts District, the site has ties to Tartine's value for local ingredients and farmers as it was originally home to the LA Terminal Market — the center of produce distribution across the region. Through adaptive reuse efforts, it's now 30 + -acres of historic buildings and gardens reborn as a place for culture, retail, eateries, innovation and creativity. Jakob Layman Inspired by the intrinsic connection between place-making, process... More

A new office building at 271 Spring Street retains, reveals and expands upon the history of its site to create a new workplace revelling with its place in the city.   It is part of the original vision for the Urban Workshop at 50 Lonsdale street, a well-known and successful example of urban renewal in Melbourne. This included a major new commercial office building and retail precinct set around the historic buildings and street patterns of the area once known as the Little Lon district.   In a similar way, the new office building incorporates a brick podium that is partly original and partly reimagined around historic elements including the Elms Hotel and the Mission Building. Overall, a streetscape of two storey brickwork mak... More

32 on Kloof, a heritage building situated along popular Kloof Street in Cape Town, has undergone a metamorphosis. Originally constructed in 1922 by prominent architecture firm Parker & Forsyth for the United Tobacco Companies Limited (UTC), the building once housed the company’s administration department. Transformed by multidisciplinary design studio, dhk Architects, 32 on Kloof’s rich history has been respected via a contemporary aesthetic that references, rather than replicates, its existing heritage.   UTC, a South African subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Imperial Tobacco Company and the United States’ American Tobacco Company, was founded in 1904. Shortly thereafter, the company began to acquire por... More

The architect Tereza Komárková designed a conversion of the ground floor of a historic building in Kutná Hora to a café five years ago. Recently, she has redesigned the first floor and loft to be converted into apartments for the same investors as well. The name Dačický now stands for a complex project, which joins the rich history of the property with contemporary style and appreciation of comfort.   “Architecture is a dialogue between the known and the future we are just imagining,” says Tereza Komárková, who was born in Kutná Hora. That is why she wanted her design to take into consideration seven hundred years of history of the building. There are original cellar... More

Tradition is preserved in the homeland of coffeemaking. The Torre del Greco offices, on the outskirts of Naples, abides by the rules of traditional coffee-making and the ways in which this product was consumed over the centuries. The Historical building is the life and soul of the office but at the same time, it has symbolic value because of its special position within the city. According to principles of spatial planning, different activities happen on the two floors: reception and the Training Center are on one floor and the commercial and representative areas are on the other. As the building is listed, the main intent of the project was to both preserve and show appreciation for the architecture, paying the same degree of attention yo... More

Hotel Bauhofstrasse is a consistent sustainable building with eyes on the future. Due to sensitive urban integration next to historic buildings the hotel contributes to the revitalization of the surrounding district.   By choosing the trendsetting construction principle of wooden room modules it sets standards regarding ecology, efficiency, construction period and quality. The modules were produced in Austria, transported to Ludwigsburg and installed on site within five working days. The shingling with white fibre cement plates does not reveal that this is a wooden building. The surfaces in the interior remain visible in their inherent construction and thus provoke a special atmosphere.   The four-storey building adopts the he... More

This master plan is the result of an urbanistic and financial feasibility study that seeks to provide a sustainable and quality solution to this abandoned school site, taking into account its historic architectural value. The study comprises, among other things, a feasibility study per built element; the definition of the elements to be razed, renovated or built; the definition of the allocation of the different elements; the study of different scenarios by taking into account heritage aspects as well as sustainability and financial feasibility.   The mission also includes the development of the selected scenario: definition of the surfaces and estimation of the construction, renovation and restoration costs; reduction of the technic... More

A mixed-use residential building and an adaptive re-use of a historic structure, the Ainsworth and Dunn project, at the north end of the Seattle waterfront along the railroad tracks, captures the spirit of this moment in Seattle history.   The rehabilitation of the historic two-story warehouse modernized the building for commercial and office use and added a modest, sleek addition at the roof level. Seismic interventions were carefully woven through the landmarked heavy timber structure.   A new six-story structure adjacent to the historic building adds 61 large residential units and ground floor commercial space. Modern masonry cladding wraps the building on three sides while the taller mass is set back and clad in curtainwal... More

Stone Cross is an iconic grade-II gothic style manor house built in 1878, located in rural Cumbria, which was left to dereliction in 2001 until development began in 2018.   The project required a careful, consultative approach on how to respectfully restore and modernise this historic building. The studio’s aim was to bring a modern, contemporary liveability to space, whilst creating a strong design narrative which wove together quintessential British history with opulent drama and character.    The challenge was to complement and accentuate the existing ornate architectural features such as the stone carvings and decorative tiled floor, with current materiality and shapes. The design approach was to play with the b... More

Refined, evocative and emblematic; these are the adjectives to summarize the latest project signed by the Puccio Collodoro Architetti studio. Placed inside an important historic building from the early 1900s, the Gran Caffè Torino is located near the central station of Palermo, at the corner of Via Roma and Via Torino, from which it takes its name. The analysis of the context allowed us to develop a specific design concept, evoking the romantic style that characterized the neighborhood in the early 1900s; in fact, its peculiar language has been conceived to recall the soft forms of the Liberty style, emphasizing the verticality that characterizes the rooms.   The choice of materials, shapes and colors is therefore the result o... More