Even after years of baptism, there are still indelible traces of time on the broken walls and discarded bricks and tiles, and the forms that have survived the vicissitudes of time interpret the eternal philosophy of "existence is meaning".

Instead of dwelling on the past and feeling sad in the face of the ruins, why not face the present and the future in a more positive way and use creative renovation to bring the once abandoned buildings back to life?

In this issue, we have selected ten cases of ruins renovation, including ancient historical relics and abandoned buildings of modern times. May you hear the historical echoes of time and feel the modern interest of the times in the collision of old bricks and modern space.

NO.1

Abandoned prison turned into a hotel

Façade along the street © Wilmina

What does a prison remind you of? Oppression, confinement and vulgarity, the lowest level of human evil. In short, you would never associate it with brightness, comfort, elegance and style. But in the heart of Berlin, Germany, there is such a quiet and elegant prison - the Hotel Wilmina, a special hotel converted from a former women's prison.

The renovated Amtsalon Arts Center © Wilmina

The building was constructed 125 years ago as a collection of former courts and then prisons. The front of the complex is a five-story brick building that once served as the Berlin District General Court. It resembles a moralistic shadow wall, blocking the Charlottenburg women's prison, which is enclosed in an L-shape, behind it. The complex has witnessed almost a century of German judicial history, and it was not until 1985 that the prison was officially closed.

Staircase © Wilmina

Grüntuch Ernst Architects was founded in 1991 in Berlin by architects Armand Grüntuch and Almut Grüntuch-Ernst. Based on the traditional values of architecture, they insist on innovation, challenging the ever-changing living and working environment and opening up new paths in architectural design.

Lobby © Wilmina

After the original developers gave up, the Grüntuchs decided to buy the old building and renovate it. They spent 11 years implementing their project, creating a mixed-use commercial space with a hotel, restaurant and cultural events.

Of the renovation project, Armand Grüntuch says, "It was a fundamental change from a prison to a hotel. It was important to break up the original configuration of the spaces and give them new meaning, so that an old building that no longer fits the tastes of the people of today can be transformed back into a welcoming place." With this aim in mind, the designers sought to strike a balance between preserving the historic building and adapting it to new needs.

Lobby Detail©Wilmina

Lounge © Wilmina

One of the difficulties of the renovation project was the location of the old building. It is a block confined by the street, with no extra space to expand. Given the original prison layout, the entire structure of the space is very closed and small. The original windows were so small and high that only a corner of the patio could be seen from the interior. How to transform such an intimidating, depressing and gloomy place into a welcoming hotel for modern guests?

To do this the designers developed a basic principle of openness on the outside and a three-dimensional and spatial structure as a framework on the inside. And with this in mind, some innovative specific structures were added, including deliberately open spaces or views that extend, connect and re-plan the original structure with the construction, superimposition, repositioning and interpenetration of design elements. At the same time, the history and connotations of the old building are respected and the original character is preserved as much as possible. The resulting renovated building constantly echoes the historic 1896 building.

Atrium © Wilmina

The slender skylights bring in divine light © Wilmina

They adopted natural themes in both the outdoor spaces and the interior design, overlaying and merging themes of history and life. They began by transforming the former courthouse building, located on the street level of the complex, into a public event salon. It is a four-story multi-purpose art gallery that hosts a variety of art events. On one side of it the main entrance to the hotel is opened, from which an open canal leads to the hotel behind. On the busy street of Berlin's Kantstrasse, the hotel has only a large wooden door and a discreet bell. Push open the heavy door and you enter a world of silence, a garden of unadorned, purely natural wild plants, interspersed with courtyards, where only birdsong can be heard, and the noise of the city can no longer be heard. It is a secluded corner in the heart of Berlin's bustling city. The design of the hotel takes into account the boundaries between interior and exterior, public and private. Guests walk through a series of courtyards to a large central garden-like courtyard that leads to a bright, high-ceilinged hotel lobby. Passages and rooms become increasingly secluded as they progress into deeper spaces.

Cozy single rooms of 11 square meters © Wilmina

The WILMINA Hotel has 44 rooms with a wide variety of rooms ranging from small comfortable studios to spacious en-suite apartments to large luxury apartments and four penthouse suites. And the original prison row-style cells have been preserved and converted into guest rooms. The original cell doors are used as guest room doors, which retain the original cell numbers and are decorated with prison door locks to give guests an old-fashioned prison experience.

In terms of detailing, all the hotel rooms are decorated differently. But all are in light tones, with soft textures and quality materials to create tranquility, and the bathrooms are all designed in a minimalist style. The new penthouse combines clear lines and open views. The L-shaped penthouse with a top floor terrace has four suites. Its glass facade is protected from floor to ceiling with delicate, removable metal chains that shine in the sunlight and drape the historic building with elegance.

Stairs © Wilmina

Night view of the restaurant exterior © Wilmina

Restaurant lighting effect at night © Wilmina

Seating area © Wilmina

Grüntuch Ernst Architekten has a lot of experience in this area, not only in the form of the building, but also in the history of the old building. They have transformed an old Jewish school for girls, which had been vacant for many years, into a gallery and a former prison cell with high ceilings but small windows, which were enlarged to provide more light, while retaining the original window lintels for decoration. The original window sills were made of natural stone, which was retained during the renovation, and a corridor was built using bricks removed from the original building. The corridor is 18 meters high and has a spatially staggered structure. Dozens of Bocci globes form filigree decorations that hang from the top, filling it with soft light. Opposite the hotel rooms is a tall, light-colored wall that once served as the prison's isolation brick wall, now painted in relaxing colors and materials that no longer feel oppressively closed.

Garden courtyard © Wilmina

The courtyard returns to its most natural state © Wilmina

NO.2

Old church turned into a museum

In 1973, the Roman remains underneath the ruins of the church were rediscovered, giving the site both spiritual and historical significance.

In order to evoke the memory of the past and the legacy of faith, the museum has been reborn as the new Columba Museum, designed by the famous architect Pablo Muto, over a period of ten years, while preserving the essence of the ruins of the church.

The design interweaves past, present and future time and space through material contrast and spatial integration, and the three façade levels echo the corresponding spatial forms and functional attributes. The immersive experience awakens the memory of history.

The building's first floor façade is made of long, dense bricks with similarly colored inlays that accentuate the age-worn texture and unique form of the crumbling walls.

The openwork double wall is used in the middle to spread the natural light into the room. With the change of seasons, the dappled light is like a dancing spirit in the ruins.

Inside the exhibition hall, the vertical and slender columns support the roof, creating a light and floating feeling. Artificial lighting and sunlight from the hollowed-out brick joints together render a mysterious and ethereal atmosphere, making it a model of new life for ancient buildings.

NO.3

Archaeological site converted into an art museum

If the Colombo Museum evokes the memory of history through the experience of restoring and recreating space. The Museum of Roman Art, on the other hand, attempts to give new life to the ruins through echoes of form and scale.

Mérida was the last major town of the Roman Empire in Spain. Today, the remains of the Roman semicircular amphitheater and the Oval Colosseum still give a sense of the grand history that has passed.

Not far from the two ruins is the National Museum of Roman Art. Once the urban core of Mérida, the ruins include Roman period houses, Renaissance courtyards and cisterns, and even an early Christian church.

The construction of a museum that coexists on top of dense ruins needs to not only echo the adjacent Roman ruins, but also evoke the memory of a glorious history and culture. Respecting the environment while fully embodying independence.

The design takes into account the temporal and spatial continuity of the museum and the ruins by adopting a superimposed strategy: the underground ruins are preserved and the new building rises on top of them. The masonry bearing walls are built in the Roman tradition with poured concrete.

The interior exhibition hall adopts the form of Basilica, an important architectural type in ancient Rome, to create an "atrium" effect, with a series of parallel walls cast in the form of Roman arches to create a spatial continuity.

The red brick walls, continuous arch coupons and marble artifacts echo each other. The thin Serbian bricks form the beauty of order and present the beauty of old and new contrast with the seemingly dilapidated stonework, which also gives the space a different style and recognition.

A downward ramp leads into the sunken courtyard and the site of the ruins excavation. Reserved exclusively as an open exhibition space, the contrast between the ruins and the buildings allows the once glorious Roman culture to be reborn in a new tour.

The National Museum of Ancient Roman Art, built on a real site, is a new form of use, revitalizing the old building and reflecting a "real past, imagined past and real present".

NO.4

Industrial building turned into a hotel

192 Shoreham Street is a Victorian red brick industrial building located in Sheffield's cultural and industrial district. The building is not a statutorily protected building, but it represents Sheffield's industrial development and history, and as such has become a symbol of collective recognition in the eyes of the locals.

The project aims to restore the once redundant building, promote the local industrial heritage and integrate it into a vibrant urban environment.

The overall design concept for the project was to create a mixed use, utilizing the original industrial features of the existing building to open a high-ceilinged restaurant/bar; the office units were placed in an upward extension, creating contrasting but complementary volumes that replaced the original mansard roof.

The new structure is simple in form and highly contemporary. The new structure is parasitic in nature and is connected to the main structure in several places. The windows in the new structure are even embedded in the brick walls of the old factory.

The black exterior and proportions of the extended structure allow two distinctly different flavors of old and new to coexist in this composite building. The new structure replaces the original sloping surface as the new roof of the building, re-drawing the skyline of the building and injecting dynamism and life into the old building atmosphere, which originally felt conservative and dead.

The interior of the building is dominated by white, with a wooden staircase running through it, presenting a different feeling from the exterior of the building.

NO.5

Heritage building turned into a trendy hotel

As a cultural heritage preservation project in Chengdu, Chengdu Boshe is centered on the 1,000-year-old Daci Temple, and is built around the preservation and utilization of the ancient architectural complex, incorporating creativity and fashion to become a stylish landmark with unique regional cultural characteristics.

The design draws inspiration from the ancient architecture, history, tradition and topography of Chengdu, drawing on the classic courtyard structure to transform this Qing Dynasty relic building from the inside out into an ultra-modern aesthetic space.

The entrance of Boshiya Hotel is a Chinese courtyard with a history of over 100 years, which was built in the Qing Dynasty - the Pentei Style Office. The design incorporates elements of the courtyard from the Qing Dynasty, and the modern style of the space mirrors the traditional Chinese art.

Living with a hundred years of history, the hotel design neither blindly caters to nor drastically renovates the hotel, but instead, the centuries-old building is completely hidden in the modern space, becoming a library and art gallery.

The design strives to preserve the surrounding historical buildings and mixes them with modern techniques, a clever blend of ancient and modern, Chinese and Western, making every detail full of stories.

The three-dimensional mesh exterior wall draws on the traditional brocade weaving process of Chengdu, while the interior wall facing the courtyard is glazed with stained glass and the bamboo and wood textures create a variegated light and shadow, allowing the modern architectural charm to dovetail perfectly with the essence of the traditional region.

While the space fully preserves the traditional architecture, the Bosher is fully immersed in the texture of the city. Although the interior design is avant-garde and fashionable, everything is naturally integrated within the architecture that fits extremely well with the texture of the city.

NO.6

Abandoned reservoir transformed into an art museum

The Mirabilis Pool, an art museum converted from an ancient Roman reservoir. This reservoir was once built during the reign of Emperor Augustus in the 1st century AD to provide drinking water for his Western Mediterranean fleet.

The design takes "time" as the core concept, using the pool as a link between past, present and future time. While highlighting the original appearance of the site, a series of modern spaces are created to balance the different functions of the past and the present.

Through the guidance of the path, people can gradually recall the old memories; at the same time, the change of materials and the integration with the topography are used to strengthen the connection between the building and the city.

NO.7

Riverbank market transformed into a food court

Renovated in 1882, the Lisbon River Market, located opposite the Cais do Sodré train station, the city's transportation hub, was once the most prestigious fresh market in Europe, dating back even to the 13th century.

In 2010, the Lisbon government decided to renovate this scene-stealing urban landmark, which had lost its vitality as the city grew. The fashion and lifestyle magazine Time Out participated in the tender and won.

The new plan not only retains the traditional fresh market, but also designs an open eatery area. With the original raised roof, 3 outdoor cafes, and 35 food stalls as well as 500 seats.

The restored market was upgraded to a new industrial style food court with an open lobby design paired with the original high-ceilinged roof, creating an immediate sensation and becoming a popular choice for dining in Lisbon.

The market integrates Time Out's years of experience in restaurants and bars, and carefully selects chefs, gourmet food and famous wine stores to create a linkage effect, making the city's hipsters swoon with high-quality food and affordable prices.

The design successfully transforms the influence of the food concept into a high-quality experiential venue that combines food, history, culture and creativity, and design. It not only rejuvenates the old market, but also injects a new modern urban vitality into the old neighborhood.

NO.8

Abandoned old house transformed into a stylish residence

Located in the heart of Beijing's old city, the Seven Houses was once an abandoned three-story courtyard. Many of the structures are dilapidated and damaged. The new design creates a new courtyard space based on the traditional residential form, with curved glass walls that give the building a classical and modern fusion.

The renovation makes full use of the original materials, on the one hand preserving the age mark, restoring the spatial interface, reinforcing the building structure and recreating the traditional appearance; on the other hand inserting modern functional equipment, infrastructure and glass corridors. The old and the new are superimposed on each other to form a new whole, meeting the new spatial needs of public reception and private residence.

The most notable renovation is the addition of a traditional element, the "veranda", which connects the originally separated spaces into a whole, serving as a pathway and redefining the courtyard hierarchy, creating the dual pleasure of viewing and wandering.

As a "perfect collision of the old and the new", the Seven Houses retains the historical marks of the past while adding new elements to adapt to modern life, transforming the abandoned old house into a stylish residence.

NO.9

Ancient ruins transformed into a viewing platform

MAP Architects of Copenhagen installed a visitor walkway in the ruins of a 700-year-old medieval castle, making the castle fully accessible to the public for the first time in centuries. The project's completed renovation provides a new spatial experience that allows visitors to enter and climb up to Karö Castle.

A three-story brick tower that has been empty for centuries, MAP architects designed a spiral staircase up to the ruins of the castle, leading to existing openings and balconies in the façade and providing unobstructed views of the surrounding area.

The project proposal aims to immerse the visitor in the archaeological experience of the medieval architecture while 'hovering' above the landscape. Because the site is an archaeological site, supporting the entire structure with a few anchor points was a huge challenge. The architects explain, "While the pedestrian staircase is extremely minimal, it recreates a complex space within a cubic one, culminating at the top directly above the sky.

Using a portable 3D scanner, MAP's architects scanned each brick so that tolerances could be kept to a minimum.

The walking ladder itself is based on a steel frame structure. The ash wood clad structure is heat treated to increase durability to 60 years without the need for painting. The walkway and handrails are painted matte black to protect the metal from the harsh coastal weather. To minimize damage to the monument, the design solution uses only four key support points.

NO.10

Old flour mill turned into office building

The 150-year-old Lotman district, once an industrial area for food production, is located between Tallinn's old town and the port. Limestone buildings of great historical value still stand here. The detailed plan approved by the heritage conservation authorities calls for the reuse of the existing buildings with new volumes and the creation of a pedestrian-friendly environment in the city center with 400 underground parking spaces.

The renovation of the existing limestone building includes an old flour barn dating back to 1904. The project consists of three major components: the old flour barn with two additional floors, the new flour barn, and an atrium connecting the two. The first floor is primarily retail and the upper floors are office units.

The HGA architect's approach was to illustrate and reinforce the character of the historic district by seeking out and adopting features from the surrounding environment. Corten steel was chosen for the primary façade material because its properties lend themselves to the existing rough surfaces; the limestone walls, brick lintels and rusted steel details pay homage to the industrial history of the area.

The new flour barn has three different sizes of windows: 75cm x 75cm, 2m x 2m with large windows across the floors. The small windows are meant to frame the view and allow air circulation; the middle size windows are in proportion to the human body; and the largest size windows are meant to provide a panoramic view of the old town.

The large cantilevered windows break the homogeneous rectangular silhouette of the building and provide a special place in the office space with a panoramic view for meeting rooms or public areas.

NO.11

Monastery transformed into a cultural center

The complex of the Monastery of San Francisco was built by Franciscan priests in the 18th century, and in 2000 the monastery, then in ruins, was demolished by the government, leaving only the church and part of the monastery walls. The project aims to transform the church into a cultural facility.

During the renovation of this church, the architects distinguished between the original elements of the church and the new ones using contemporary building systems and language. The interventions did not hide traces or scars in order to preserve the history of this building in its entirety. At the same time, the architects proposed different solutions to ensure that the different locations inside the building are exposed to natural light.

Another challenge was to maintain the original size and visual unity of the main church while accommodating uses and requirements that had never existed before in the church - stairs to the upper level, restrooms and equipment rooms. In order to maintain a sense of space and unity within the church, these volumes were partially placed outside the building.

The architectural approach adopted seeks to reinforce the original building without eliminating signs of decay; preserving the building's historical heritage by adding new values, giving the ancient monastery a unique modern form.

NO.12

Theater transformed into kindergarten

The construction of the Małopolska Art Park introduced a new spatial order to the old courtyards and dilapidated buildings on Rajska and Szujskiego Streets in Kraków. The Małopolska Art Park is a transition between the two buildings, the Juriusz Słowacki Theatre and the Małopolska Provincial Library.

The starting point of the project was the transformation of the old equestrian arena from the 19th century into a multi-purpose hall; in the last years of its history the old arena was used as a studio and storage space for the Yuliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków.

The building is not a meaningless imitation of its surroundings, but draws inspiration from contextual forms by referencing the geometry of the neighboring building's roof and the abstract geometric composition of its facade. The lines of the roof and the division of the facade are consistent with the composition and linear scheme of the neighboring buildings, blending perfectly into the surroundings.

Some of the outdoor areas use the same elements of the openwork roof, leaving enough space for the trees to grow; the landscape garden also uses parallel lines elements, unifying the whole and blending the interior and exterior. Under this roof, the artistic and cultural life of Krakow is integrated. Local contemporary ballet, theater, music, film, and other art forms have taken root and flourished from this base.

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