Magazine

Located in a Brooklyn neighborhood scarred by years of industrial pollution, the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center was designed as a demonstration project for innovative approaches to sustainable design. Marble Fairbanks answered a few questions about the project that is on... Marble Fairbanks

Wineries give architects the opportunity to engage directly with nature, often finding inspiration in the vineyards that surround them. Alton Wines takes its cues from the landscape it is nestled into and the mountains that surround Walla Walla in the southeastern region of Washington.... GO’C

The new two-building home for the Columbia Business School opened at the beginning of this year, marking the completion of phase one of Columbia University's Manhattanville Campus, following a trio of buildings designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. World-Architects got a tour of the... Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FXCollaborative

Interstate 5 cuts a north-south course through Portland, Oregon, severing many east-west streets and forming the occasional dead end. The Outpost, a co-living project that is a departure from most residential buildings in the city, is located at the end of one such dead end street. Beebe... Beebe Skidmore Architects

Kol Rinah Synagogue is located on the edge of Downtown Clayton, a busy business district just west of St. Louis, Missouri. A new addition, designed by Patterhn Ives, houses the sanctuary in a box that is limestone outside, oak inside. Partner Anna Ives answered a few questions about the... Patterhn Ives

At the time of its completion the corporate office for First Tech Federal Credit Union in Hillsboro, Oregon, west of Portland, was the largest glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT) building in the United States. More important than such an accolade is how the design by Hacker aligns with the... Hacker

Situated on a ten-mile stretch of rocky Northern California coastline, The Sea Ranch is a famous residential development laid out by Lawrence Halprin in the 1960s and featuring distinctive timber-frame structures designed by Charles Moore, Joseph Esherick, and others. Klopf Architecture has... Klopf Architecture

After its founding in 1974, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company resided in various locations in Chicago and its suburbs, eventually moving into a permanent home on North Halsted Street in 1991. Thirty years later, in November 2021, the renowned theater company completed a major multi-phase... Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

At the center of the Beloit Powerhouse, Studio Gang's transformation of a former power plant into a student union for Beloit College, is a grand space that formerly housed turbines. Juliane Wolf, partner and design principal at Studio Gang, answered a few questions about the project, which... Studio Gang

On December 11, 2021, the City of Winter Park, just north of Orlando, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Winter Park Library and Events Center. Designed by the firm of Sir David Adjaye, the complex made up of three pavilions is marked by arching rose-pigmented concrete facades that... Adjaye Associates

Located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of artist-philosopher Walter Anderson (1903-1965). In May the museum opened the Courtney Blossman Art Cottage, the renovation of a 19th-century house and the first stage in... Tall Architects

One of the newest buildings on the campus of Georgia Tech located in Midtown Atlanta, the Caddell Building houses the School of Building Construction, part of the university's College of Design. Although it looks like a new building at first glance, it is actually the adaptive reuse of a... BLDGS

The new office building at 520 West 20th Street is an adaptive reuse and extension of an old warehouse in West Chelsea, just steps from the High Line and the plethora of residential buildings that have boomed alongside the elevated park. Morris Adjmi Architects answered a few questions about... Morris Adjmi Architects

The 104-year-old Obama Building in Detroit's Old Redford neighborhood takes its name from a mural that used to grace the building's exterior and depicted Barack and Michelle Obama's "First Dance." The restored mural is now inside the Obama Building, which was renovated by Lorcan O'Herlihy... Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects

Originally built as a gatehouse for the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, the century-old Schiff House now serves as daycare center for the City College of New York. Stone outside and wood inside, the small building was renovated by Michielli + Wyetzner Architects and opened in 2020.... Michielli + Wyetzner Architects

Fourteen residential units and two retail spaces now fill the former Columbia City Abbey, a 1924 building at 39th and Ferdinand in Seattle. Allied8 handled the adaptive reuse, making each apartment unique from the rest. The Seattle studio answered a few questions about the project. Allied8

Optimist Hall is a former textile mill and pantyhose factory that was recently transformed into a food hall with indoor and outdoor seating. Many parts of the existing building outside of its structure, walls, and floors were salvaged and incorporated into the project. Square Feet Studio,... Square Feet Studio, Perkins&Will

BNIM describes West Bottoms Flats, their adaptive reuse of four historic warehouse and manufacturing buildings in Kansas City's West Bottom District, as "designing with a light touch." Now home to 265 residential units, the architects preserved many existing elements to make the project "feel... BNIM

On July 28, 2004, IKEA opened a new store in New Haven, Connecticut, a store that controversially cut up Marcel Breuer's 50-year-old Pirelli Building. A decade and a half later, architect and developer Bruce Redman Becker bought the empty office building, with plans to convert it into a hotel.... Becker + Becker

In June 2020, in some of the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic, the Mayor of New York City executed the Open Restaurants Program, which enabled storefront restaurants to provide seating in shelters that occupy parking spaces next to the curb. Maiden Korea is an exceptional example of one... Dash Marshall LLC

Imperial 400 Motel was a chain of motels that started in Los Angeles in the late 1950s and subsequently expanded into other parts of the United States. One of their locations in Washington State was recently transformed into a boutique hotel called Civic Hotel. The architects at Wittman Estes... Wittman Estes

From asphalt to apartments: 83 Gardner Street, in Boston's Allston neighborhood, is an apartment building that replaces a former parking lot and further connects to a Victorian house that was renovated as part of the project. Hacim + Associates answered a few questions about the restoration... Hacin + Associates

People can be excused for mistaking this house in Manhattan Beach, California, as a building at Sea Ranch: the homeowners were inspired by the the famous residential community along the Pacific coast in Sonoma County. In turn, the architects at Blue Truck Studio remodeled the client's existing... Blue Truck Studio

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission often requires that rooftop additions to landmarked buildings are invisible from the street. Such is clearly not the case with this building overlooking Union Square Park. BKSK Architects added a glass dome to the historic home of Tammany... BKSK Architects

Located in an industrial area in West Oakland, 1901 Poplar is the interior transformation of a warehouse into a start-up innovation hub aimed at creating tech opportunities for underserved communities. Custom furniture and partitions that are easy to move and reconfigure give the large space... Medium Plenty

The new home of Dick Clark + Associates in Austin, Texas, occupies a portion of a building that formerly served as a pawn shop. The architects admit the tilt-up concrete building was pretty "drab," but in their hands it has been transformed into a light-filled building that illustrates how... Dick Clark + Associates

The Algin Sutton Pool opened to the public last month in Los Angeles's underserved Vermont Vista neighborhood. The design by Lehrer Architects LA reimagines the existing Palladian building through the addition of dynamic forms and colorful surfaces. The architects answered some questions about... Lehrer Architects LA

The highlight of Form4 Architecture's modernization of an office complex in the San Francisco Bay Area is a sculptural installation made from weathering steel, aptly called Corten Ribbon. The architects answered a few questions about the project. Form4 Architecture

Inspired by fishing shacks found in Scandinavian coastal villages, architect Malcolm Davis renovated an old, dilapidated residence into a contemporary beach house with a home studio. The architect answered a few questions about the house located in Pacifica, south of San Francisco. Malcolm Davis Architecture

Many adaptive reuse projects turn old buildings, many of them industrial, into entirely different uses: offices, residences, even museums. In this regard, an appealing aspect of AutoHaus is the way it retains part of its original function. KUBE architecture answered a few questions about the... KUBE architecture

Old buildings need not be grand or architecturally significant to be reused. Take a diminutive machine shop in Seattle's trendy Ballard neighborhood that was transformed into a cannabis shop. Graham Baba Architects answered a few questions about their transformation of an industrial building... Graham Baba Architects

Ozark Natural Foods Co-Op opened last fall inside a former grocery store that sat empty for years. Instead of simply renovating the interior, Modus Studio also put a new facade on the old building, reoriented the entry, and gave Northwest Arkansas the largest porch around. The architects at... modus studio

Across the street from Archi-Tectonics' earlier 497 GW apartment building, the 512 GW Townhouse similarly reuses an old warehouse, transforming 19th-century industry into 21st-century residential luxury. While the predecessor used undulating glass to make a statement, the new townhouse is... Archi-Tectonics

The Gruss Center for Art and Design is the renovation and expansion of the existing Gruss Center of Visual Arts on the campus of The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, located about halfway between Princeton and Trenton. Sasaki answered some questions about the project, which adds a maker... Sasaki

The New Mexico School for the Arts in Sante Fe occupies no less than ten buildings that served as a lumber mill, bookstore, and mini-mall, among other uses. A variety of facades, outdoor spaces, and exposed structural systems remind students of the site's history. Lake|Flato Architects... Lake|Flato Architects + Studio SW Architects

"In designing the Neilson Library, I envisioned a dance between old and new," Maya Lin writes in her artist's statement on the recently completed project. "The design... Maya Lin Studio