Refurbishment: The Latest Architecture and News

The Mies van der Rohe residential building, the Bailey Hall built in 1955, at Illinois Institute of Technology will be subject to renovation works by Dirk Denison Architects. The Chicago-based firm will modernize the mechanical, structural, and interior works, modifying its original function, and introducing a new configuration to host up to 330 first- and second-year students, while the exterior will remain faithful to the original design and the ground floor lobby will still hold on to the Mies’ iconic recessed glass lobby.

+ 16

• Architects

  Kosaku Matsumoto

• Location

  Tokyo, Japan

• Category

  Showroom

• Area

  25.0 m2

• Project Year

  2018

• Photographs

  Nobutada OMOTE

China seems to be at the peak of a refurbishment fever. Not only hutongs in historic downtowns, but abandoned industrial factories are becoming new tech or cultural hubs, and even buildings in the risk of collapse are refurbished to extend their lifespan. Why is this happening? Who is investing? How could this happen in a country where you cannot buy properties?

In this edition of Editor's Talk, our editors from ArchDaily China share their thoughts on how in a fast-paced development process, such as the one China is going through, there is a refurbishment fever in its biggest cities.

+ 23

• Architects

  Adam Bresnick, Ventura Estudio

• Location

  El Born, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

• Category

  Restaurant

• Architects in Charge

  Juan Carlos Fernandez, Reyes Castellano y Adam Bresnick

• Area

  200.0 m2

• Project Year

  2013

• Photographs

  Meritxel Arjalaguer

+ 12

• Architects

  Plus Architecture Ireland

• Location

  Dublin, Ireland

• Category

  Extension

• Area

  450.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Mary-Louise Halpenny

+ 20

• Architects

  Ventura Estudio

• Location

  Madrid, Spain

• Category

  Apartment interiors

• Architects in Charge

  Juan Carlos Fernandez y Reyes Castellano

• Area

  200.0 m2

• Project Year

  2007

• Photographs

  Juan Baraja

+ 20

• Architects

  Ventura Estudio

• Location

  Ulloa, Spain

• Category

  Refurbishment

• Architect in Charge

  Reyes Castellano

• Área

  400.0 m2

• Project Year

  2007

• Photographs

  Peter Field Peck

+ 25

• Architects

  Studio PKA

• Location

  Ballard Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001, India

• Category

  Store

• Architect in Charge

  Puran Kumar

• Design Team

  Noel Woodward, George Chacko, Nivedita Parab

• Area

  371.0 m2

• Project Year

  2018

• Photographs

  Niveditaa Gupta

+ 28

• Architects

  Toni Gironès

• Location

  Montornès Del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain

• Category

  Heritage

• Architect in Charge

  Toni Gironès Saderra

• Area

  2500.0 m2

• Project Year

  2012

• Photographs

  Sabem.com i Aeroproduccions, Aitor Estevez

The 2019 CANactions International Architecture Festival focused on an exploration of a notion of "Hromada" — Ukrainian name for the 'community', which is embedded into the country's historic and cultural codes and reflected in contemporary social movements and architectural forms.

Architect Illya Rastvorov is one of the winners of this year’s CANactions Youth Competition presented in Kyiv, Ukraine. For his proposal, the architect transformed the railroad depot of the Copenhagen Railway Station in Denmark into the “Copenhagen Playground”, a recreational area that caters to people of all ages and enhances the social conditions of the city.

+ 7

• Architects

  MAKE Architecture

• Location

  Saint Kilda, Australia

• Category

  Extension

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Peter Bennetts

+ 26

“The greenest building is the one that is already built." (Carl Elefante, FAIA)

The world’s urban population will double by 2050, and cities need to come up with sustainable ways to accommodate this mass movement. We often see projects being built as quickly as possible to support growth, however, rapid growth often leads to cities and buildings that lack originality.

A smarter and more sustainable solution is to increase the density of existing centers, as well as to recover existing structures through refurbishment and repurposing. But, turning something old into something new is a challenging process — it requires a bold vision and a rigorous commitment to design.

Although ancient buildings carry compelling architectural presence, demolition or radical change is often their fate. While some architects prefer to introduce thoroughly new structures, others choose to honor the works of historic architects, who built the basis and foundations of structures that helped shape up cities today.

For the refurbishment of Paris’ Hotel Fouquet Barrière, located one block facing Avenue des Champs Elysées, Edouard François was selected to renovate the entire property, including offices, spa services, façade, and courtyards. François’ design strategy was rather unambiguous, using only two keywords as reference: “COPY-EDIT”; a reinterpretation of the “old” through contemporary technologies and modified material.

+ 18

+ 17

• Architects

  6a Architects

• Location

  United Kingdom

• Category

  Extension

• Project Team

  Stephanie Macdonald, Tom Emerson, John Ross, Alice Colverd, Cécile David

• Area

  57.0 m2

• Project Year

  2013

• Photographs

  Johan Dehlin

+ 6

• Architects

  SCOB

• Location

  Barcelona, Spain

• Category

  Renovation

• Architects in Charge

  Óscar Blasco, Sergi Carulla y Sergi Arenas

• Developer

  Barcelona City Council

• Area

  2239.0 m2

• Project Year

  2015

• Photographs

  Adrià Goula