Restoration: The Latest Architecture and News

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• 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

As part of Tripoli’s economic revival plan, the International Union of Architects (UIA), in collaboration with the Lebanese Federation of Engineers and Architects (on behalf of the Tripoli Special Economic Zone / TSEZ), the Union of Mediterranean Architects (UMAR), and the Lebanese Government, have launched an international architecture competition to create a Knowledge and Innovation Center in the northern city of Lebanon.

The proposed site is situated on an empty lot within Oscar Niemeyer’s abandoned Rachid Karami International Fair, a modernist exhibition complex that has yet to see the light of restoration. The objective of the competition is to create a technology and business hub which will foster and promote start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, attracting students, young graduates, local and international companies to Tripoli and the neighboring region.

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• Architects

  Brasil Arquitetura

• Location

  R. da Graça, 284 - Graça, Salvador - BA, 40150-480, Brazil

• Category

  Historic Preservation

• Lead Architect

  Francisco Fanucci, Marcelo Ferraz and Cícero Ferraz Cruz

• Design Team

  Albert Sugai, Bruno Levy, Gabriel Grinspum and Rodrigo Izecson

• Area

  3055.0 m2

• Project Year

  2002

• Photographs

  Nelson Kon

With its historic but dilapidated waterfront, San Francisco has decided to restore the shoreline that could greatly influence the future of the city both environmentally and economically. The Port, contemplating between a piecemeal rebuilding pier-by-pier and a singular comprehensive construction of the waterfront, invited architecture and landscape firms to submit the reimagined proposals.

Global design firm HASSELL, known for their innovative recreational projects, envisioned an approach to preserve the significant history and culture of the pier while creating a sustainable green corridor in a playful manner. In order to activate the Embarcadero as an "interconnected greenway," HASSELL plans on developing the ecological areas along the waterfront as well as improving the accessibility between the recreational land with the surrounding transit hubs.

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Inducing a surreal physical experience through minimal maneuvers, buildings with smooth concrete panels and simple geometric volumes instinctively hint at the work of Japanese architect Tadao Ando. At an ongoing exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, photographs of the headquarters of Fabrica, Ando's first European commission in 1992, are showcased. Located near the city of Treviso, the building was an old villa restored to become a thriving creative research center.

Villa Pastega Manera, built on an area of 51,000 square meters, went through a rigorous study of traditional construction techniques and material sampling to commence the redesign. The photographs feature the harmonious integration between the historical structure and seamless renovations. 

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The Fondation Le Corbusier has celebrated its 50^th anniversary with the unveiling of a restored apartment originally designed by the famous architect. The studio apartment on Nungesser-et-Coli in Paris was designed by Le Corbusier in 1931 for his own habitation and was completed in 1934.

The apartment underwent two years of restoration following its listing as a classified world heritage site in 2016 and is now open to the public.

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MVRDV has released details of their proposed renovation of a 19th-century listed building on Slodowa Island in Wroclaw, Poland. The “Concordia Hub” will see the retention of the existing façade, with the addition of a contemporary rear extension to “create a focal point” for the general public and visitors.

The site’s former use as a German artillery base in 1945 means almost all of the island’s structures were destroyed in the closing months of World War II. The Concordia Hub scheme seeks to preserve one of the only surviving heritage structures on the island, while transitioning the building into the modern age.

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The architectural history of Mexico bears with it a wealth of symbolism that gives insight into the different time periods that have played host to contemporary cultural movements throughout the country's history. 

Today, it's common to hear well-known architects calling for, not the creation of new spaces, but for the restoration of already existing ones. This stance insists that it is one's duty as an architect to rescue a site's memory by bringing it into the here and now.

As philosopher Jean Paul-Sartre put it, "what is important is not what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us." In keeping with Sartre's phrase, we have compiled a list of 6 restoration projects that aim to rescue sites and show the interconnectedness of different time periods in Mexican history.

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In his book The Right to the City (1968), Henri Lefebvre talks about ending the creation of spaces managed by the logic of profit, to launch a plan of "self-managed territory" that does not leave aside the "historical heritage," nor allow the decomposition of space, but instead works for the restitution of urban centers as places of creation.

Globalization has produced cities without limits whose focus has been on the immediate benefit, directly attacking the preservation of cultural heritage, among other things.

Zaha Hadid Architects have released images of their proposed redevelopment of the historic Mercury House, situated in the tourism and entertainment center of Paceville on Malta’s east coast. An extensive renovation to the existing structure will see the integration of residential apartments, a boutique hotel, and a range of public spaces and amenities.

The boldest addition to the derelict heritage site will be a 31-story tower, rotating as it rises in response to different functional programs. The resulting form seeks to instill “a sense of dynamism within its silhouette that changes when viewed from different directions around Paceville."

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When architects were asked to re-imagine Chicago’s neglected buildings for an exhibition, Dirk Lohan designed a revitalization plan for Louis Sullivan's Pilgrim Baptist Church. Soon Sullivan’s landmark building will become the nation’s first National Museum of Gospel Music, complete with a cafe, retail store, event space, research and listening library, and a 350-seat auditorium.

Herzog & de Meuron has released images of their proposed scheme for the redevelopment of an old brewery site on the banks of the Moscow River. The Badaevskiy Brewery project will see the transformation of a largely abandoned cluster of historic, industrial buildings, a delicate restoration project contrasting with the contemporary addition of a residential “Horizontal Skyscraper.” With this bold addition elevated on tall, slender stilts, a new ground-level public park is created to strengthen ties between the brewery site and adjacent river.

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• Architects

  NONG STUDIO

• Location

  1247 Suzhou South Rd., Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

• Category

  Offices Interiors

• Architect in Charge

  Chasing Wang

• Design Team

  Neal Zhu, Luca Lannote (Italy), Kunyang Wang

• Construction Team

  Shanghai Taoyi Building Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd

• Area

  180.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Chasing Wang

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• Architects

  China Northwest Architecture Design and Research Institute

• Location

  Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

• Category

  Historic Preservation

• Design Team

  Zhao Yuanchao, Zhi Pu, Wang Dong, Hui Qiannan

• Area

  69000.0 m2

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Chen Su

Ever wanted to spend the night in a classic Frank Lloyd Wright house? Here’s your chance.

The Eppstein House, one of Wright’s Usonian designs built in 1953, has been restored to its original beauty by owners Marika Broere and Tony Hillebrandt and is now accepting visitors for a limited time through Airbnb. Located in Galesburg, Michigan, the house was originally designed as part of a planned Usonian community intended to contain 21 homes, though just four ended up being built.

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