A Layered Architecture: Adaptive Reuse Projects That Reframe the Past Through Bold Material Contrasts
In recent decades, the term “adaptive reuse” has gained tremendous popularity as an eco-friendly construction approach. But what if there was something more poetic about reframing a space and its stories for new users? These architects show that once-deemed disposable facades, walls, and textures can obtain new meaning through bold and clever juxtapositions. These adaptations proudly display their conversions and layers of historical patina under them as a batch of honor and speak to the permanence of buildings and their impermanence in use and interpretation. Through subtle formal moves and daring material choices, they transformed structures that would have been otherwise demolished and reimagined them in new and intriguing ways.
Sala Beckett / Flores and Prats
Flores and Prats transformed a worker’s cooperative social club in Barcelona, Spain, into a performing arts center. Originally constructed by the cooperative workers themselves, “Cooperativa pax y Justicia” was located in the industrial neighborhood of Poblenou. Heavy in decoration on its walls, ceilings, and floors, cooperative members used it to celebrate marriages, first communions, and parties. While the performing center directors gave the architects the option to demolish and start over completely, Flores and Prats decided to keep the structure and transform it into a space that still speaks to the previous use of the building. They studied the spaces and their decoration and used them as starting points for the design of the drama center. Flores and Prat kept key architectural moments in the building so neighbors who had seen the building in its previous life could still see themselves and their memories in it while still creating a dynamic and engaging community space for its new users.
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In an interview with Archdaily, they discussed the idea of adaptive reuse as a way to “treasure memories.” Their process is explorative, taking in stride the uncertainties and doubts involved with dealing with the old and aged and seeing them as possibilities, questions, and interests. In conversation with Azure, they described their aesthetic and formal language as “situational,” considering how people will feel in each specific space and what sensations it will evoke—birthing heavily atmospheric and textural spaces.
We think it shows how much we respect a historical building by not simply preserving it but by bringing it into our own time. Ruins are simply beautiful to look at, but an old building should be more than that; it should be useful again in new and exciting ways.- Ricardo Flores
8323. layers of space / Sukchulmok
Having already lived many lives, including as a house and hardware store, Sukchulmok gave this building another life as a bakery and cafe. Located in Seoul, South Korea, Sukchulmok transformed the facade of the 1980 brick and concrete building by adding a contrasting layer of reflective stainless steel. Lead architect Park Hyunhee saw the aged brick texture as the building’s biggest strength, a texture created by aging, additive construction, and technical problems, including rain-related damage. The facade comes together harmoniously through a single move, layering metal over brick while creating a column needed for structural support. The existing concrete structure is left exposed and contrasted by bright and sharp geometric moves in the interior.
Sukchulmok’s work stands out for its stunningly playful use of material, layering stone, welded iron, and carved wood. They make use of simple yet powerful formal moves to create tactile environments.
Atwater Canyon / Formation Association
Formation Association bisected a retail space using pink plaster to create a canyon-like open-air interior passage. Located along the Atwater Village commercial corridor in Los Angeles, it was adapted to act as a corridor between the sidewalk and municipal parking via a sequence of interconnected spaces. While they kept the existing facade, what used to be glazed became tall openings leading to outdoor circulation spaces. The roughly raked pink plaster interior elevations are articulated with large arched openings, contrasting texturally with the existing facade while geometrically echoing its arched geometries. A continuous plane of ceiling joists extends overhead through interior and exterior spaces, and a new triangular courtyard frames an existing weathered brick wall.
In an interview with Architect Magazine, they describe themselves as a mixture of professional and peculiar, which shows itself in their design. Creating playful gestures spatially transforming an old structure while making astute urban-scale moves.
This canyon-like adaptive reuse project porously interlaces old material with newly variegate sensibilities in an inextricable urban palimpsest.- Formation Association
Impactful aesthetics in adaptive reuse transcend grandiose formal moves; subtle gestures combined with material responsiveness can create visceral impressions that speak to architecture and its relationship to the passage of time. Architects could significantly benefit from being more attuned to the aesthetic potential of working with aged structures; even if historically unimportant, they all possess a subtle and often overlooked beauty.
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