Renovation and Transformation
An adaptive reuse precedent demonstrating how an open historic brick courtyard can be enclosed with a structural glass canopy to create a luminous, climate-controlled social atrium.
- What we like about this project
- A suspended horizontal luminous light fixture floats directly in front of the central second-story windows.
Materials
- brick
- structural-glass
- steel
- terrazzo
- upholstered-furniture
- timber
Visual identifiers
- glass-canopy
- historic-brick-facade
- atrium
- indoor-courtyard
Style tags
- contemporary-historic
- adaptive-reuse
- minimal-intervention
Visual tags
- adaptive-reuse
- atrium
- historic-preservation
- glass-roof
- hospitality-interior
- Geometry
- A multi-story enclosed courtyard volume featuring a flat structural glass canopy overhead and symmetrical brick elevations along the perimeter walls.
- Facade system
- Original exterior brick masonry walls converted to interior elevations beneath a glazed steel-and-glass roof structure.
- Structural guess
- Steel trusses or mullions supporting overhead laminated glass panels spanning the historic masonry walls.
- Spatial scale
- Monumental scale, roughly three stories high, accommodating multiple levels of circulation, seating lounges, and a central bar.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight filtering evenly through the overhead structural glass roof, complemented by warm interior accent and bar lighting.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, airy, and welcoming, blending heritage masonry with transparent modern interventions.
- Environmental context
- Indoor atrium formed by retrofitting and enclosing an open courtyard between historic brick masonry wings.
- Spatial experience
- Transitioning from exterior character into a grand, climate-controlled atrium that acts as a central lounge and social hub.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical vertical fenestration and symmetrical flanking staircases establish a balanced, formal composition.
- Style reading
- Contemporary intervention within historic architecture
- Program
- Commercial or cultural atrium and social lounge
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- brick, structural-glass, steel, terrazzo, upholstered-furniture, timber
- Visual identifiers
- glass-canopy, historic-brick-facade, atrium, indoor-courtyard
- Style tags
- contemporary-historic, adaptive-reuse, minimal-intervention
- Visual tags
- adaptive-reuse, atrium, historic-preservation, glass-roof, hospitality-interior
- Geometry
- A multi-story enclosed courtyard volume featuring a flat structural glass canopy overhead and symmetrical brick elevations along the perimeter walls.
- Facade system
- Original exterior brick masonry walls converted to interior elevations beneath a glazed steel-and-glass roof structure.
- Structural guess
- Steel trusses or mullions supporting overhead laminated glass panels spanning the historic masonry walls.
- Spatial scale
- Monumental scale, roughly three stories high, accommodating multiple levels of circulation, seating lounges, and a central bar.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight filtering evenly through the overhead structural glass roof, complemented by warm interior accent and bar lighting.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, airy, and welcoming, blending heritage masonry with transparent modern interventions.
- Environmental context
- Indoor atrium formed by retrofitting and enclosing an open courtyard between historic brick masonry wings.
- Spatial experience
- Transitioning from exterior character into a grand, climate-controlled atrium that acts as a central lounge and social hub.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical vertical fenestration and symmetrical flanking staircases establish a balanced, formal composition.
- Style reading
- Contemporary intervention within historic architecture
- Program
- Commercial or cultural atrium and social lounge
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture