You wouldn’t mind living in a stable, boathouse, boiler room, post office or even a wartime bunker once they undergo modern renovations like these, contrasting the original historic architectural elements with smooth new wood surfaces and lots of glass. A former caviar warehouse in New York City gets a lantern-like sunken courtyard, a bridge connects two old brick food factory buildings, a Victorian church goes contemporary and priests party it up in a seminary turned retirement home.
Concrete Bunker to Hidden Home, Netherlands
If not for the incongruously new and modern deck positioned adjacent to the entrance, you’d never imagine that this wartime bunker in Belgium is actually a functional residence. Architecture studio B-ILD transformed the half-buried structure into a vacation retreat big enough to sleep four people, but made no attempt to disguise its original purpose, leaving most of it stark and unfinished.
Bakery Warehouse, Australia
Two brick buildings in a former bakery warehouse complex stretch out to each other from across verdant courtyard with the addition of a new wooden bridge. What was once the Golden Crust Bakery in Melbourne is now a luxury residence large enough to house a Brady Bunch-like extended family, with the teenagers in one building and the parents with their younger children in the other.
Stable to Off-Grid Home, Spain
A crumbling stone stable in a remote area of western Spain is now an off-grid home with the help of Madrid-based studio Abaton. Oriented to maximize solar heat gain, the home sits within the restored stone exterior, its deep glazed windows hidden behind operable stable doors acting as shutters. A freshwater swimming pool in the front doubles as an irrigation tank.
Caviar Warehouse with Sunken Interior Courtyard, New York
A glass-walled courtyard sinks from the landscaped rooftop of a former caviar warehouse in Manhattan by Andrew Franz into the renovated interior, acting as an oversized skylight. A retractible roof lets air flow into what was previously a poorly ventilated and ill-lit space. Within the living quarters, modern elements contrast with original factory materials, like a staircase made from the old roof joists.
Victorian Church, London, UK
Look beyond the copious animal print and oversized dog paintings to the architectural bones of this Victorian-church-to-home conversion in London by Gianna Camilotti architectural studio. While the design is a bit heavy-handed on the contemporary additions, the beautiful timber elements and windows of the original structure still shine.
