A window is a place . The shape and proportion of the windows have been slightly modified , lowering the height of the parapets and installing generous wooden sills that act as benches and resting places both inside and outside the building .
Inside the building , a series of careful surgical interventions such as new openings , insertions , and partitions , have been carried out under the premise of the “ smallest possible intervention ”.
Renaturation . The roofs of the building have been structurally reinforced or replaced where necessary . Aside from that they have been thermally insulated and covered with a vegetal layer . The central patio has been closed to cars and “ renatured ” by removing the asphalt layer that covered it previously and replacing it with a layer of topsoil and grass . A walnut tree has been planted in the center of the patio , acting as the new gravitational center of the ensemble .
Surgical interventions . Inside the building , a series of careful surgical interventions such as new openings , insertions , and partitions , have been carried out under the premise of the “ smallest possible intervention ”. These are aimed to adapt the building to its new use , making its interiors lighter and more spacious while showing and celebrating its found matter and therefore its past lives . Some of the masonry walls have been sandblasted and stripped down , in order to recover the original texture while in other areas that require a more neutral atmosphere , e . g . for painting , they have been gently coated with semi-covering glazes that homogenize the space while still revealing the materiality lying in the foundation building .
Architects : ALAS Alarcon Linde Architects - www . alas . berlin Area : 690 m ² Year : 2023 Photographs : Ronald Patrick - www . ronaldpatrick . com www . refurbandrestore . co . uk - 13