The question of what to do with ruins is as old as architecture, and answers range from demolition to meticulous reconstruction, or: cleverly combining what’s there with something new and functional.

Graphic designer Neomam has taken on a series of uninhabited buildings, playfully updating them while preserving core elements of what was left behind.

Castles on hills, colonial outposts, and farmer cottages are all raw material for these reuses, contrasting with new glass and complemented with rust-colored corten steel.

These kinds of solutions serve a few purposes They can stabilize and help protect existing architecture, but also, by giving it a new function, they add a use that people have a vested interested in preserving.

Doing interventions like these with care, to show the difference between old and new, also helps viewers ‘read’ the difference immediately, distinguishing the additions from the originals in clear and compelling ways.