Design showcase: Top five repurposed buildings

Reference: Top Hotel News | Updated: 29 Dec. 2021

This week, we turn to a diverse category of projects: conversions. In a world where planned obsolescence is the norm and society is constantly looking for brand-new things, reusing what’s already there has bags of potential.

The renovation game

Whether saving and preserving historic construction from oblivion or simply using fewer resources, reutilising a pre-existing building is an environmentally friendly choice.

Today, we’re sharing five projects that have transformed pre-existing buildings into stunning hospitality experiences.

Dexamenes Seaside Hotel’s original structure dates back to the early 1900s when massive concrete tanks were built near the coastline for storing wine. Its conversion showcases the brutality of the tanks and also complements it. Materials like the remaining cut-out doors from the tanks were reused in other parts of the hotel, ensuring minimal waste.

Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg reignites the architecture of a 19th-century power station, where the original brick walls, machinery and infrastructure are preserved and highlighted by the surrounding design.

Monastero Arx Vivendi brings to life a 17th-century austere monastery by maintaining the external structure and internal majestic paths and corridors, while using materials and schemes that retain the peaceful energy of the place.

Capella Shanghai innovatively reuses a 1930s shikumen complex originally designed for Shanghai’s middle-class families. Even though these usually lacked modern plumbing facilities and were considered low-value properties, the interiors have since been tastefully transformed into luxurious places.

Hotel Arena is quite simply full of history. From its original purpose as an orphanage for Catholic girls in 1886 and being occupied by the Nazis from 1944 to 1945 to later becoming a nursing home for the elderly and the homeless, these walls can tell stories like no other.

Dexamenes Seaside Hotel

Kourouta, Greece
by K-Studio

Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg

Hamburg
by Sibylle von Heyden
Supplied by Hansgrohe

Monastero Arx Vivendi

Arco, Italy
by noa*

Imagery: © Aex Filz

Capella Shanghai

Shanghai
by Blink Design Group – Singapore

Hotel Arena

Amsterdam
by Tank
Supplied by Hansgrohe