RetroFirst is an AJ campaign to prioritise retrofit over demolition and rebuild. Hundreds of architecture practices, organisations and individuals have declared their support for our campaign
The practice has performed a masterful warts-and-all retrofit of the former brewery, led by the client’s desire to ‘keep the DNA’ of the building, writes Rob Wilson. Photography Simon Menges
The practice has retrofitted a former soft-drink bottling warehouse into a workspace, the Bottle Factory, just off London’s Old Kent Road
The lean renovation of the south London arts organisation’s home was achieved at a total construction cost of just £1.8 million, a testament to the intelligent use of BIM in keeping costs down. Rob Wilson visited. Photography by Maris Mazulis
The retrofit of a former shop unit in Glasgow’s Italian Centre, provides a modern, accessible base for the Scottish Episcopal Church, with flexible spaces for working and gathering
Sanchez Benton has retrofitted the ground floor and basement of a building in Fitzrovia designed by Edwardian architect Arthur Beresford Pite in 1904, creating a contemporary art space with four galleries
A building previously occupied by Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen Cornwall has been converted into beachfront hotel suites
The project in Brockley, South London has created an open-plan ground-floor space and uses hand-made and reclaimed materials
Oliver Leech Architects has remodelled and extended a run-down terraced house in Hampstead for an artist and sculptor client for £550,000
After a three-year closure London’s Courtauld Gallery has reopened. Rob Wilson visited and found a finely wrought retrofit sensitive to the spirit of the original building
40 under 40 practice McCloy + Muchemwa has transformed a dilapidated outbuilding into a greenhouse and workspace for self-build clients at their Norwich home for just £6,000
The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings