Renovation is actually – especially in years like 2023 – a common theme in the majority of the projects chosen by Domus, whether it be interiors, entire houses, or wider-ranging architectures.
Reuse is the key, reinforcing the use value of spaces; “reusing, reducing, recycling” but also giving contemporary meaning to the existing, someway preventing historicization in the sense of burial in a past disconnected from today.
We selected projects from around the world better could shed light on the contemporary value of renovation, embracing a multiplicity of different histories that is almost impossible to map unitarily: from Berlin beginning to reappropriate the buildings of the former Tempelhof airport, to Oma adding a kind of aerial Lever House to Tiffany in New York, dealing with a less-than-discreet neighbor; museums in Cape Verde that regenerate the urban surroundings from which they are generated, and Italian collections that rediscover the evocativeness of hidden interiors; warehouses blossoming into collective housing and apartments that pour the traces of their history into the flow of present; icons like the Rinascente and the Velasca tower, material regenerations as well as others we may only visit in digital worlds.
A reuse project in Basel turning a wine warehouse into collective housing
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As part of a broader urban regeneration plan for the Basel Lysbüchel district, Zurich-based studio Esch Sintzel has transformed a wine warehouse into a residential building. Instead of demolishing and rebuilding, the architects have identified a design strategy that considers the existing building not as waste but as a spatial resource on which to graft a program of interventions aimed at reuse and contemporary living. Read more
The Tempelhof Airport tower in Berlin, finally renovated and open to the public
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The opening of the tower of the former Tempelhof Airport (THF) in Berlin marks an important step in the redevelopment of the historic airport that closed its doors in 2008. Read more
OMA's “jewel box” on top of historic Tiffany & Co store on Fifth Avenue
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OMA has completed the renovation of the Tiffany & Co flagship store in Manhattan, the historic ten-storey limestone building at 727 Fifth Avenue, New York, used by Tiffany & Co since 1940 as a department store. Read more
Brooklyn’s “batcave”, reopening after Herzog & de Meuron’s renovation
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The “Batcave”, populated by writers and ravers, has been cleaned up and transformed into a non-profit space dedicated to artists and artisans. Read more
Atelier LUMA’s Magasin Électrique in Arles, conceived by Assemble and BC to be realised with waste
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The founder of LUMA Arles, Maja Hoffmann (daughter of Luc Hoffmann, the famous pharmaceutical magnate and naturalist founder of the WWF) involved a multidisciplinary team of 30 researchers to renew – in collaboration with the London collective Assemble and the Belgian studio BC architects & studies, both experts in the reuse of building waste – the “Magasin Électrique”, the building on Lot 8 of the Parc des Ateliers, a former railway industrial site of Arles redeveloped in 2013 by the philanthropist. Read more
The cultural center embracing and regenerating the heart of Mindelo, Capo Verde
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Cape Verde is a country where most of the production processes are handmade and rely on human dexterity and effort, whose products retain characters of intrinsic imperfection and therefore authenticity. The project for the National Centre of Art, Crafts and Design by Ramos Castellano Arquitectos in the port city of Mindelo was conceived according to this approach: a unique work, the result of human ingenuity and the lively local culture imbued with a craftsmanship that juggles difficulties by treasuring every resource and valorising it, also through recycling. Read more
The renovation of Luigi Rovati Foundation by Mario Cucinella
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In the heart of Milan, a metaphorical journey invites visitors to discover Etruscan civilization and contemporary art through new museum areas and renovations in the spaces of a 19th-century building. Read more
The suspended time of a renovated house by Lake Como
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Near Lake Como, A25architetti has renovated a family home from the 1950s, transforming it into a holiday dwelling: the House of Memories (Casa dei Ricordi), isolated or perhaps protected from urban frenzies, embodying a luxurious idea of retreat where to rediscover the beauty and the times of Italian villages. Read more
A nineteenth-century farmhouse in Piedmont rediscovers a dialogue with the mountains
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A 19th century farmhouse in Piedmont, Italy, has been renovated by Jonathan Tuckey Design, an English studio specialising in the enhancement of existing buildings. The complex has been transformed into a home-studio for a fashion designer and naturalist, bringing out its rural essence and enhancing its relationship with the landscape, while also optimising the thermal performance of the envelope. Read more
Eixample: a renovated apartment preserving the traces of its own history
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We follow a renovation process in Barcelona that starts from the elements and atmospheres of the past to seek contemporary living expressions. Read more
A Spanish bakery transformed in a flat with hidden patio
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From a former bakery in the 1980s to a single-family home: the renovation of an industrial space in Palma, Spain, offers a solution to unaffordable housing. Located on the ground floor and facing the street of a densely populated neighbourhood, the flat is based on a balance of natural light, usability of space and relationship with the outdoors. Read more
The “sartorial” conversion of an old building in Palma de Mallorca
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Filling the gap between the original architectural fabric and its upgrade to the needs of the 21st century: it is in this interstice that OHLAB glimpses a respectful but not historicized possibility for update. As the firm itself states, “the renovation project takes advantage of the complexity of the existing building as a potential to generate unexpected spaces where each dwelling is totally different”. Read more
Contemporary traces in an old Portuguese flat
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This dwelling in an old building in the centre of Beja in the Alentejo region, in the southern part of Portugal, renovated by Helena Botelho Arquitectura, is a hymn to local light and colours. Read more
Atmospheres from a bygone Athens, in a renovated residence
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In an Art Deco building, a philological and scrupulous renovation recovers the original proportions and textures of two apartments, between contemporary design and ancestral crafts. Read more
A new look for the historic Rinascente department store in Rome
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Studio 2050+ designed the renovation project for Franco Albini and Franca Helg's building, with an approach balancing preservation and novelty. Read more
...and Elena Salmistraro's redesign of the Velasca Tower in a metaverse vision
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In a digital reproduction, the designer reconnects the iconic Milanese tower to the urban and social fabric through an interplay of symbolic colored fabrics. Read more