New Vernaculars: 8 Restoration Projects Reinterpreting Tradition

These buildings showcase how architects can honor history by rethinking the past.

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Great architecture can celebrate modernity by reinterpreting tradition. Balancing desires to create anew and to repurpose or respect the historic, restoration architects bring new life to vernacular structures through culture and context. Exploring both material and spatial qualities, modern restoration projects frame new experiences by building upon existing conditions. Drawing together projects that expand upon vernacular forms and logic, we have gathered together a collection that showcases how architects can honor history by rethinking the past.

Translating original design elements through a contemporary logic, each of the projects establishes different programs and formal expressions around original buildings. As exercises in mediating preservation and development, the projects utilize modern construction techniques and assemblies to form elegantly crafted designs. Each extension and expansion connect to place through individual means, but together, they show how adaptive reuse can reimagine the vernacular and celebrate what it means to live today.

House Au Yeung by Tribe Studio, Sydney, Australia

This 1930s bungalow in the Sydney suburbs was renovated with an extended program and gabled roof form. Exploring the character of the area and the original house, the project includes bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces formed with decorative brickwork and lich-covered roof tiles.

Perry World House by 1100 Architect, Philadelphia, Penn., United States

As the transformation of a small cottage built in 1851, the Perry World House project creates a 21st-century flagship institute for global engagement and international affairs. Mediating a dual condition, the project takes the shape of a new limestone-clad building with a seamless, modulated scale.

The Pennovation Centerby Hollwich Kushner, Philadelphia, Penn., United States

A project that involved the restoration and adaptive reuse of a 20th-century paint factory, this innovation center is located on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Housing state-of-the-art labs and co-working areas, the project features an angular façade that juts out towards the Schuylkill River.

London Brownstones by Knox Bhavan Architects LLP, London, United Kingdom

As a contemporary reinterpretation of an Edwardian terrace, this restoration project replaces a 1950’s infill building. Created to “fit in,” the design includes crafted internal joinery, front bay windows, a curved timber staircase and terracotta sandstone laid in ashlar courses.

Hall within cloud-Art studio of Xu Hongquan by office PROJECT, Beijing, China

Formed around the reconstruction of an old factory building, this design centers on the artist’s studio. Taking cues from the linear brick factory and its sloped roof, the project takes advantage of elements like a triangular steel roof truss to create a nested progressive space structure.

CAP by AAVP architecture, Paris, France

Repurposing a space in the historic center of Paris, CAP rethinks a Haussmannian building in the Opéra-Madeleine district. The project includes multiple duplex apartments and a large glass roof above a former photographer’s studio.

La Seca by Meritxell Inaraja, architect, Barcelona, Spain

Exploring La Seca’s character through its gabled roof, 17th-century bearing walls and central brick pillars, this adaptive reuse aimed to create a space for cultural exchange. The intervention began with archaeological excavation and transformed the interiors and circulation to form open spaces for modern use.

Kanaal by Coussée & Goris architecten, Wijnegem, Belgium

Kanaal was made around new meanings. Converting an existing structure, the project retained all stone and steel elements on the Stokerijstraat. The design revives the original buildings while creating new living functions and revealing old façades.

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Author: Eric Baldwin

Based in New York City, Eric was trained in both architecture and communications. As Director of Communications at Sasaki, he has a background spanning media, academia, and practice. He's deeply committed to trying as many restaurants as possible in NYC.