Chile has a rich and vast heritage architecture, which is gradually gaining relevance through different initiatives that seek to renovate these buildings to give them a second life. The buildings and infrastructures were in disrepair, disused, or damaged, but have great architectural value, being an important contribution to the reconstruction of the history of Chilean cities.
Sanmartín Guix, an architectural firm based in Barcelona, aims to enhance the value of the built heritage through rehabilitation and adaptation according to the needs of new generations, providing comprehensive architectural services as well as real estate advice. In this way, the conditions and aesthetics of the buildings are improved, seeking to adapt them to the requirements of all those who wish to visit or inhabit these spaces.
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly known as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) has announced that it will welcome its first visitors on the 25th of May, 2023. Revamped and expanded, the new campus designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson features “new work of signature architecture, the Jeffrey E. Gundlach building, and extensive renovation to existing buildings”.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
My first encounter with saving a building landed me in handcuffs and a trip to the Long Beach Police Department. A friend and I were frustrated that our hometown was demolishing good buildings—because they did not conform with the current style of architecture—only to replace them with parking lots! All in the name of “progress.” In 1988, when we learned that the Jergins Trust Building, a Beaux-Arts beauty, was slated to be torn down with no plans for the site, we jumped into action and chained ourselves to the building to stop the wrecking crew. Our efforts kept it up for another four hours. And then it was gone forever.
Google has just announced that the company plans to occupy the famous postmodernist icon, the Thompson Center, by 2026 after major renovations works. The building that was under threat of demolition for a while will be renovated by JRTC Holdings LLC and Jahn's architecture studio to meet Google’s needs for its flexible hybrid workforce and to accommodate the tech giant’s 1,800 employees in Chicago.
Today, reusing and adapting existing spatial resources is regarded around the world as an important contribution to sustainable development, and new challenges are thus also emerging at the margins of classic building tasks due to the changing assessments regarding whether to preserve or demolish. Xu Tiantian’s projects in the quarries of Jinyun combine aspects of landscape planning, interior design, artistic installations, and social planning with an economic revitalization of the rural area. In this way, a ruined and exploited landscape becomes a sign of departure with which a new sustainable coexistence can be linked to a narrative about the history of the location.
The first edition of the UIA 2030 Award celebrated projects that contribute to the delivery of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Located in Germany, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bangladesh, and China, the winning interventions were announced during the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland. Organized by the International Union of Architects (UIA), together with the UN-HABITAT, the award program gathered 125 submissions in 40 countries.
ArchDaily had the chance to talk to the winners behind the acclaimed architecture, to discuss furthermore the interventions and certain specificities of each and every project. In addition, the winning teams shared their upcoming and ongoing architectural endeavors as well as their point of view on the importance of architects engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Today, at the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland, the International Union of Architects (UIA), together with the UN-HABITAT, have announced the laureates of the UIA 2030 Award. Seeking to acknowledge the contributions of architects to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda through built interventions that demonstrate design quality and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this first edition of a biennial awards program, selected winning projects from Germany, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bangladesh, and China, from 125 submitted projects in 40 countries.
Organized under six categories: Open Category, Improving Energy Efficiency, Adequate, Safe & Affordable Housing, Participatory, Land-Use Efficient & Inclusive Planning, Access to Green & Public Space, and Utilizing Local Materials, the jurors picked a winner per section, yet were unable to identify an overall winner in the open category and chose instead to recognize six projects as Highly Commended, honoring in total 5 laureates and 15 commendations.
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Designed for an insurance company, The Centraal Beheer building by Herman Hertzberger in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, is widely recognized as one of the high points of the structuralist movement. MVRDV, in consultation with Herman Hertzberger’s office AHH, is transforming the celebrated building, making it the centerpiece of a new sustainable residential neighborhood while preserving its structure and core principles. The project is part of a larger area of development, a three-hectare site near the city’s train station. MVRDV’s design proposal introduces approximately 650-800 homes while keeping the focus on preservation, greening, and innovation.
Over the past year, established practices have continued to champion the transformation of existing structures, with adaptive reuse and renovations increasingly becoming a defining aspect of contemporary architecture From the renovation of landmark structures to the adaptive reuse of obsolete facilities, the idea of giving new life to existing buildings has been embraced as the premise for a more sustainable practice, but also as a means of reinforcing the urban and cultural identity of cities. Discover 8 designs and recently completed projects that showcase a new common practice of reusing existing building stock.
Buildings are like bodies with organs. When this is the case, with a little extra effort, buildings can be dismantled instead of demolishing them. Dismantling involves carefully removing salvageable components, storing them, and finding them new homes. While this solution is not always possible, it can be part of a sustainable effort that — in addition to keeping material out of landfills — preserves the history and memory embedded within unique materials and fragments. It also honors the human labor invested in our environment. This video explores the reuse of building materials and what it means to be surrounded by fragments with history. It also profiles institutions dedicated to the dismantling and dissemination of building materials, as well as artistic practices that reconfigure our existing built environment including Noah Purifoy and Catie Newell of Alibi Studio.
The Barbican Centre is up for a substantial renovation, and the City of London Corporation revealed the five shortlisted teams for the refurbishment of the Brutalist icon, among which are practices like BIG, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Adjaye Associates or Asif Khan Studio. The cultural venue at the heart of the eponymous post-war housing estate in central London was the subject of an international competition aiming to preserve its heritage while upgrading the ageing structure to contemporary requirements and artistic aspirations.
Back in 2019, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma won the contest to design the expansion of the gardens of the Gulbenkian Foundation and the new entrance of the Modern Collection of the Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. According to the architect, the museum can be a "wise example of the future as coexistence with the Earth and us", taking inspiration from nature and its relationship with architecture. In a recent No País dos Arquitectos podcast, Sara Nunes interviews Kengo Kuma and Rita Topa, architect at Kengo Kuma Associates, to talk about the expansion of the gardens and museum, along with the mission of architecture and the role of the architect, processes, and work references developed for the project.
Renovation projects are often perceived as being more limited and therefore less exciting. In this article, we present renovation projects with unexpected solutions that show that it is possible to be creative when adapting and reusing an existing space.
Renovation projects - also called retrofitting, refurbishing, remodeling - are becoming increasingly popular in the market and the practice of architecture, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Responsible use and consumption of natural resources and the impacts of the building industry have been ongoing concerns in the field of architecture and urban planning. In the past, concepts such as clean slates, mass demolitions, and building brand new structures were widely accepted and encouraged. Nowadays, a transformation seems to be taking place, calling for new approaches such as recycling, adaptive reuse, and renovations, taking advantage of what is already there. This article explores a selection of projects and provides a glimpse into interventions by renowned architects in pre-existing buildings.
It has become evident that the spaces we inhabit have changed. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to appreciate values as lighting, ventilation, and comfort when working in home.
A new report from The Trust for Public Land (TPL) makes a compelling case for transforming underperforming, paved public schoolyards into green oases for the entire community. While the benefits for schools and their educational communities are clear, TPL sees an opportunity to open up these facilities to surrounding neighborhoods after school hours, on weekends, and when school is out. If all 90,000 public schools in the country had a “community schoolyard,” more communities could tackle the persistent park equity issue — in which too few communities, particularly undeserved ones, enjoy access to nearby high-quality public green spaces. TPL argues that opening up all schoolyards, essentially turning them into part-time all-access community hubs, would “put a park within a 10-minute walk of nearly 20 million people — solving the problem of outdoor access for one-fifth of the nation’s 100 million people who don’t currently have a park close to home.”
Marcel Breuer’s Pirelli Tire Building, a beacon of Brutalist architecture in the United States, is being reimagined as a hotel by development company Becker and Becker. After being abandoned for years, the structure was sold to architect and developer Bruce Redman Becker in 2020 with plans to transform it into a sustainable 165-room hotel. The sculptural concrete structure aims to be a model for passive design hotels using its unique architectural features and innovative adaptive reuse techniques.
_Domat.jpg?1656485110 "Home modification for low-income Families. Image Courtesy of Domat Architects")
.jpg?1656485127 "Co-creation of Urban Spaces by the Nobogonga River. Image Courtesy of Co.Creation.Architects, Jhenaidah Citywide People's Network, Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Community Architects Network (CAN)")
.jpg?1656364895 "Co-creation of Urban Spaces by the Nobogonga River. Image Courtesy of Co.Creation.Architects, Jhenaidah Citywide People's Network, Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Community Architects Network (CAN)")
.jpg?1655422503 "Herman Hertzberger - Centraal Beheer offices, Apeldoorn (1968-1972). Image via AHH, used under terms of \"fair use\"")
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