What is retrofitting? Six signature projects, from Torre Galfa to MVRDV

The project stems from a philological analysis of the existing building, the “Residence Porta Nuova” designed by Marco Zanuso and Pietro Crescini and completed in 1973, which marked an important milestone in the transformation process of the Porta Nuova area. As for the reuse of the building to accommodate offices and a hotel, the studio aimed to improve the flexibility and luminosity of the spaces and to energetically upgrade the complex by revising the systems and building enclosure, though preserving the original constructive and figurative peculiarities (from the prefabricated cement stringcourses to the elements in exposed concrete, glass, steel and wood). Particular attention was paid to redesigning the façade with continuous glazed bands. The ground floor façade features a rhythm of transparent modules alternating with structural opaque parts covered by silk-screened frames; on the standard floor, the frame is vertically tripartite in an upper part, opaque and inclined to direct natural light towards the ceiling, in a central transparent and openable part and in a lower part for archives and fancoils. Gioiaotto was the first LEED Platinum certified building in Milan.

The project concerns the transformation of three buildings between 10 and 15 storeys in the Grand Parc district of Bordeaux, which was built in the early 1960s following Le Corbusier's urban planning theories in terms of orthogonal viability, the provision of green areas and multi-storey buildings with standardised and prefabtricated housing units. The retrofit intervention aimed to improve the housing quality and microclimatic comfort of the dwellings, through a high-efficiency and low-cost “additive” approach without “distorting” the original building. The insertion on the front of a new translucent volume, 3.80 m deep, unheated and supported by a self-loading prefabricated structure, connected to the dwellings by means of new glazing from the partial demolition of the fronts, makes it possible to increase the living space and affects its energy performance: in winter, the volume acts like a direct-gain greenhouse by which the solar radiation is captured through the large transparent surface of sliding polycarbonate panels equipped with shading curtains; in summer, the opening of the sliding panels and internal glazing favours natural ventilation flows.

The iconic office skyscraper designed by Melchiorre Bega and completed in 1959 at the crossroads of Via Galvani and Via Fara (from which it derives its name), after a series of ups and downs linked to ownership changes, decades of neglect and an unauthorised occupation (in 2012), has been given back to the city thanks to a project by bg&k associati (architect Maurice Kanah), which has preserved the compositional proportions, structural elegance and simplicity of the façades of the original project. The restoration, renovation and re-functionalisation project involved a new functional mix: receptive/hotel (4-star hotel with 145 rooms, up to the 12th floor), residential (75 flats of varying sizes from the 13th to the 30th floor) and commercial (a gymnasium in the basement). Renewable technologies (micro-wind, photovoltaic and geothermal), together with the new high-performance enclosure (subject of a façade re-cladding, with new high-performance cells), give the tower energy efficiency and renewed functionality. The tower has been declared compliant with the BEEM® In-Use classification system and has been awarded an "excellent" rating, achieving energy class A (27 kWh/m2 per year).   

The post-war Dumfriesshire red sandstone, concrete, stainless steel, timber and glass building housing one of the UK's richest and most eclectic museums has reopened its doors thanks to a renovation project by John McAslan + Partners for the architectural and landscape design, and Arup for the enclosure engineering. The intervention reflects the values of transparency, accessibility and connection between art and nature pursued by the founder. The cornerstone of the project was the improvement of the building's performance through a “fabric first” approach that increases the performance of the existing building with respect to energy efficiency, consumption reduction and thermo-hygrometric properties: from the use of photovoltaic panels on the roof, to the reuse of the existing aluminium frames reintegrated with new bespoke gaskets and thermal breaks, to the complete recycling of glass reused in the building process, to the insertion of a new airtight glazed shell that saves 200 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, enabling the building to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating (a significant achievement for the renovation of a Category A listed building).

The residence for Olivetti executives, completed in 1961 and designed by Emilio A. Tarpinio, is part of the modern industrial city of Ivrea, a UNESCO site since 2018. The retrofit intervention by G-Studio involved a series of operations on individual components to adapt the building to contemporary thermal-hygrometric comfort requirements, without altering the original material and figurative characteristics. In order to achieve energy class B, action was taken on the infills, by restoring the doors and windows and equipping them with low-emissivity glass, by breaking down the heat transmission in the walls and roof and increasing insulation. The image of the villa was preserved by cleaning, restoring and consolidating the façade elements; in the interiors, the fixed furnishings were restored and the layout maintained with a few modifications, including the extension of the kitchen, dining area and the service bathroom.

The project involved the renovation of an anonymous four-storey building from the mid-1990s, transformed into a hub for environmental and socio-cultural initiatives as part of the larger Atelier Gardens project, of which it serves as the "gateway". The building, completely redesigned and marked by a bright and unusual yellow colour (especially in the Berlin suburbs), houses a café/co-working space on the ground floor, offices on the upper floors and a rooftop with a clt wooden pavilion and garden overlooking Tempelhof and the urban landscape. A highly recognisable element is the 57 m long cyclopean staircase which, in addition to serving as a fire escape and providing direct access to the rooftop for events, is dotted with seats and tables to encourage sociability. The project is realised with great attention to environmental sustainability: from bio-based materials, to sustainable wood, to elements with a high recycling component, to energy-efficient LED lights.