adaptive reuse
Events
What does a city made with care actually look like?
At Living Cities Forum 2026, Finn Williams, Ludwig Engel and Anupama Kundoo approached the future of cities through governance, adaptive reuse and material practice.
Ideas
CARD finds value in the everyday
For emerging Melbourne practice CARD, architecture is grounded in authenticity, responsiveness and collaboration, with a focus on robust materials, practical thinking and the realities of everyday life.
Project
TZG completes Brett Whiteley Studio restoration
The Art Gallery of New South Wales has reopened the Brett Whiteley Studio in Sydney’s Surry Hills following a major renovation by TZG that upgrades the building while preserving the character of the artist’s former home and workplace.
Project
A modernist icon gains a new communal space
Wood Marsh has transformed a disused caretaker’s apartment within Melbourne’s heritage-listed Fairlie building into a wellness centre that extends the legacy of one of Australia’s most significant residential towers.
Workplace
Adaptive reuse in WA turns teachers college into workplace
Spaceagency Architects complete executive offices for the Prendiville Group through the restoration and conversion of the State Heritage-listed former Fremantle Technical School Annex.
Events
The winners of the 2026 NSW Architecture Awards
From landmark transport infrastructure and adaptive reuse to inventive housing and regional projects, the 2026 NSW Architecture Awards recognised the breadth of architecture shaping the state.
Events
“Cities Made With Care’: Living Cities Forum returns with international speakers
Anupama Kundoo, Finn Williams and Ludwig Engel will be keynote speakers as Living Cities Forum comes to Melbourne and Sydney in August 2026.
Project
O’Connell’s Hotel reborn
Fiona Drago Architect refreshes one of Melbourne’s best-known hotels, balancing heritage character with a more open and contemporary hospitality experience.
Events
“Renewable real estate”: Wrapping up Melbourne Design Week with FK
FK hosted a standout Melbourne Design Week event with a panel on adaptive reuse and renewable real estate at 500 Bourke, featuring previous contributor Nicky Drobis and our editor as moderator.
Project
Newcastle Quay rethinks the harbour edge
Led by SJB, Newcastle Quay is imagined as a mixed-use waterfront precinct where housing, hospitality, public space and heritage work together to reconnect Newcastle with its harbour.
Project
La Marzocco finds its Sydney rhythm
Inside La Marzocco Sydney, Open Creative Studio has turned a Botany warehouse into a flexible showroom, training space and events venue — one that understands coffee culture as both technical craft and social ritual.
Project
200 years down, 200 to go
Historic Littlebourne Guest House was one of the first settler houses built west of the mountains two centuries ago. Now, a renovation and extension are designed to secure the next 200 years.
Project
A new chapter for Melbourne’s North Wharf
Designed by FK alongside One Design Office, 1 Hotel & Homes Melbourne at Seafarers is part of Riverlee’s long-game regeneration of North Wharf and finds its footing in reuse, restraint and a refusal to start from scratch.
Project
Kōri Windsor remixes the ice cream parlour
Blurring the line between dessert bar and listening lounge, AIR Design Studio delivers a modular, low-waste fit-out where sound, sustainability and social ritual take centre stage.
Project
A high-tech, future-ready extension for Mumbai’s automobile design hub
Designing for the future, SJK Architects has completed a workplace for automobile designers, Mahindra & Mahindra in Mumbai, that embraces technology but also has the all-important human touch.
Project
The Lands by Capella reopens a Sydney landmark
At The Lands by Capella, Hassell and Purcell take a restrained approach to adaptive reuse — working with the existing building to reintroduce it as a public, mixed-use destination.
Project
Preserving heritage with Yatofu Creatives
Cycling culture and heritage seldom converge, yet the AITASHOP flagship in Beijing is a space where both coexist.
Project
Recasting density in the suburban garden
In Melbourne, Justin Mallia Architecture reshapes a compromised heritage site into a flexible, multi-residential home — balancing density, landscape and long-term adaptability through a careful reworking of form, light and ground.
Project
Reframing the everyday: HDR elevates public amenities at Pyrmont Bridge East
HDR reimagines Pyrmont Bridge East Amenities through adaptive reuse, elevating civic design with inclusive, sustainable intent.
Project
A living laboratory at school
At Kilvington Grammar, ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects (CHC) has converted an old single-storey library into three levels of flexible, collaborative learning spaces.
Workplace
New FK-led research bolsters the importance of adaptive reuse in workplace design
FK’s Nicky Drobis takes us through a recent poll of 1,000 office workers across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that suggests a preference for reuse – despite an ‘awareness gap’.
Project
The Catcher: a rural guesthouse framed by rice fields
Set among the rice fields near Shanghai’s Xinchang Ancient Town, The Catcher by TEAM_BLDG reworks two rural houses into a guesthouse that mediates quietly between architecture, landscape and time.
Project
A vision in silver: TAOA’s new studio
A simple and stark silver box juts out into the street. It can be no other than architectural practice TAOA’s new studio.
Project
Café by day, bar by night
Spacemen Studio transforms a rare Kuala Lumpur bungalow into Sun & Moon, an all-day dining venue shaped by ambient light and curated material.
Project
Keiji Ashizawa Design transforms historic Singapore restaurant
The Japanese firm brings elements of calm into Loca Niru, a fine-dining restaurant housed in a 146-year-old mansion in Singapore.
Project
Rag trade warehouse meets mid-century at AP Design House’s Henne store
Recalling the warehouses of yesteryear and reflecting the label’s own sense of restraint, Henne’s new retail outlet is turning heads in Melbourne.
News
Architectus’ award-winning Addis Ababa architecture
The revitalisation of the United Nations’ Africa Hall in the Ethiopian capital has been named the winner of the 2026 World Monuments Fund (WMF)/Knoll Modernism Prize.
Project
Garde Hotel opens a new hospitality chapter in Fremantle
Matthew Crawford Architects and Foolscap rework Garde Hotel’s heritage buildings into a place-aware, craft-rich addition to Western Australia’s hospitality landscape.
Workplace
A lick of blue to welcome you – 440 Collins St designed by Studio Tate
A lobby upgrade of 440 Collins St demonstrates how a building’s street-level spaces can be activated to serve many purposes.
Project
Australia Post’s circular workplace rethinks what a national institution can be
Australia Post’s new Melbourne Support Centre by Hassell showcases circular design, adaptive reuse and a community-focused approach to work.
Project
The new Sydney Fish Market opens as a landmark destination
Signalling a transformative moment for Blackwattle Bay and the redevelopment of Sydney’s harbour foreshore, the newly open Sydney Fish Market demonstrates how thoughtfully designed public realm and contemporary market space can unite to create a landmark urban destination.
Project
Inside Dissh Armadale: retail as space to linger
At Dissh Armadale, Brahman Perera channels a retail renaissance, with a richly layered interior that balances feminine softness and urban edge.
News
Five projects embracing the next wave of circular design
From radical material reuse to office-to-school transformations, these five projects show how circular thinking is reshaping architecture, interiors and community spaces.
People
AIR emerges: Eid Goh launches a new chapter in practice
After more than two decades at Architects EAT, Eid Goh launches AIR, a new Melbourne-based studio focused on adaptive reuse, hospitality and human-centred design across commercial and civic projects.
Ideas
HDR predicts seven megatrends to shape Australian architecture and design in 2026
In the New Year, architecture will be defined by its ability to orchestrate relationships between inside and outside, public and private, humans and ecology, and data and intuition.
Project
Omnicom’s Melbourne headquarters revitalises a heritage icon on Bourke Street
The new headquarters for Omnicom in Melbourne’s CBD sees heritage re-invigorated with style and finesse.
Project
Requiem of Ruins: Multitude of Sins turns leftovers into living design
Bangalore studio Multitude of Sins elevates true leftovers — not surplus — into a richly layered workspace where waste materials become narrative, structure and sculptural expression.
Project
Inside Precinct 75’s build-to-rent transformation
COX Architecture uses saturated colour and hotel-style amenity across the historic St Peters location, designed for Coronation Property.
Project
The calm space
Through expert architecture, EBD Architects has provided a human face to great design and created a project that enhances the lives of people and community.
Workplace
“We wanted the building to spark interest and character on the street”
Kiri Morgan, Director at Nightworks Studio, talks to us about the New Zealand practice’s very own new production space at Lawson St.
Project
Gray Puksand transforms workplaces into learning spaces
Gray Puksand’s adaptive reuse of former Melbourne office into Hester Hornbrook Academy’s new City Campus shows how architecture can support wellbeing, connection and community.
Project
Bundarra unites heritage and modern design
Smart Design Studio and Those Architects combine landmark and workplace in Bundarra, a Surry Hills gateway blending old and new.
News
Kennedy Nolan appointed to lead next phase at Abbotsford Convent
Abbotsford Convent has appointed Kennedy Nolan to guide the next stage of development at the heritage-listed Melbourne precinct, continuing its evolution as a cultural and community landmark.
Ideas
Comment: To reach net-zero, we must tackle the ‘too hard’ basket
In this comment piece by Dr Matthias Irger – Head of Sustainability at COX Architecture – he argues for an approach to design that prioritises retrofitting, renovation and reuse.
Workplace
Sydney’s multipurpose urban courtyard
Tzannes has completed work at The Brewery in Sydney’s Central Park, marking the culmination of an internationally significant adaptive reuse project.
Workplace
Adaptive reuse secures new life for Brisbane Therapy Centre
Jesse Lockhart-Krause, Director of Lockhart-Krause Architects, tells us about a storied building in Queensland that has now become a functional workplace for a therapy centre.
Workplace
Moments of material reuse magic as Hassell designs Arup’s Brisbane office
Reuse, resourcefulness and material transformations bring unexpected stories to Arup’s new Brisbane office, designed by Hassell.
Project
SALT HQ supports the needs of the business
THISS Studio has completed the interior fit out of a flexible office and creative space in east London for independent communications studio, SALT.
Workplace
Civic activation at 55 Collins Street
Grimshaw has completed a revitalisation of Collins Place, adding new layers to an already historically and architecturally rich site in Melbourne’s CBD.
Events
Hassell celebrates Capella milestone
The Lands by Capella has had its official naming ceremony, marking the next chapter in the transformation of one of Sydney’s most revered heritage buildings.
Events
All about Sydney Metro as the 2025 NSW Architecture Awards winners are announced
The very best of NSW architecture was celebrated in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2025 NSW Architecture Awards in a gala celebration at Sydney’s ILUMINA.
Project
Hints of New York in Hammond Studio’s Sydney office renewal
Global e-commerce tech company ROKT has a revitalised, art-filled workplace in Sydney thanks to Hammond Studio’s reuse-focused design.
Workplace
More than just a transitional space: Perth’s Palace Tower receives the Woods Bagot treatment
Woods Bagot has completed a lobby refurbishment inspired by the historic architecture of the Palace Hotel.
Project
The fabulous fabulous New Bahru
In Singapore, old meets new and does it with style and grace in FARM’s culturally appropriate, site-specific design. It’s a place that provides connection for everyone who visits.
Workplace
Repurpose with purpose: FK at 500 Bourke Street
The $160 million transformation of 500 Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD has revitalised a 1970s Brutalist icon, originally designed by Godfrey & Spowers.
Project
A destination fit for a king
Contemporary meets heritage at the Sawai Man Mahal in Rajasthan, the perfect place to stay for a holiday in this beautiful region of India.
Ideas
Don’t demolish Flemington Estate, says OFFICE – ‘Retain, Repair, Reinvest’
Australia’s only not-for-profit architectural practice, OFFICE, is supporting the residents of Victoria’s housing estates in their fight to save their homes and communities.
Project
Once upon a time in Rosebery
Notable for its adaptive reuse and retail presence, Rosebery Engine Yards is a landmark mixed-use project in Sydney’s inner south.
Ideas
Saturday Indesign panel discussions covered a wide range of critical ideas in 2024
Saturday Indesign 2024 featured a series of design discussions on topics ranging from adaptive reuse to Australian aesthetics.
Events
The 2024 Sustainability Awards shortlist is here!
It’s a celebration of groundbreaking innovation in sustainable design – here’s your shortlist for the 2024 Sustainability Awards
Project
Gelato Messina churns up the heat with a gelateria design to swoon for
Gelato Messina serves up delectable ice cream with a heaping helping of history and a sprinkle of mid-century flair.
Workplace
Long life, loose fit: The ‘chameleon architecture’ of 151 Toorak Road will evolve and adapt
Making a statement in South Yarra, 151 Toorak Road by Bird de la Coeur Architects is both sustainable and adaptable as a design for today and the future.
Project
Fireflies and sushi where Tokyo meets Sydney hospitality design
Vie Studio has designed a glowing example of a dynamic hospitality setting, inspired by Japan’s undulating fascination with fireflies.
Ideas
Today’s students expect more: Q&A with Architectus
We spoke to Architectus Principals, Marina Carroll and Diana Rosenthal, about meeting the needs of students today and the evolution of tertiary institutions.
Ideas
Comment: Lighting and circular economy on a finite planet
In this comment piece, Matt Marshall, Head of Lighting Design at Cundall Singapore, considers circular thinking and how to make a high impact in the right way.
Ideas
AD-APT: Deep floorplates and adaptive reuse with Woods Bagot
Matt Stephenson, Principal at Woods Bagot New York, discusses a number of adaptive reuse approaches for deep floorplates.
Events
Global crises and the architect’s social responsibilities under discussion at AIA Conference
Kate Goodwin, curator and Adjunct Professor (Architecture) at the University of Sydney, reports back from the AIA Conference in Melbourne.
Events
The Stirling Prize-winners setting up a Sydney studio
British architecture practice, AHMM, now has a home in Sydney. We caught up with Paul Monaghan ahead of his Australian Architecture Conference keynote speech.
News
Te Kaha: From reuse to mixed-use at One Queen Street by Warren and Mahoney
Warren and Mahoney’s mixed-use project in Auckland is approaching full occupancy, with big plans across hospitality, workplace, retail and more.
Ideas
The good, the bad and the pandemic: The future of hospitality design with Technē’s Sam Sempill
Technē Architecture + Interior Design associate director, Sam Sempill, shares insights into hospitality design.
Ideas
From cutting-edge projects to thoughtful interviews, seven stories on adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse is all the rage across the design industry, and rightly so. Here, we present a selection of articles on this most effective approach to sustainability.
Ideas
Comment: Gray Puksand’s predictions for Australian architecture in 2024
In this comment piece, Gray Puksand’s National Managing Partner, Nik Tabain, outlines some anticipated trends for this year.
Events
It’s design festival season! Melbourne Design Week asks us to ‘Design the world you want’
With over 300 events planned, the eighth edition promises another marathon week of design and its theme is at once a proposition of hope and an urgent call-to-arms.
Ideas
Radical logics of connectedness and circular economy with Chris Fox
We sat down with Chris Fox to speculate on the future of regenerative architecture, circular economy and experimenting with vegetation in and on buildings.
Workplace
Encore Cremorne by Fieldwork, a fusion of forms in brick and glass
New seven-storey glazed office tower meets single-storey red brick heritage warehouse at Encore Cremorne.
Workplace
Today Design, tomorrow the zero-waste workplace
In a veritable feast of recycled material, modular efficiency and functional flexibility, Studio Edwards has designed a zero-waste workplace for Today Design.
Workplace
Office agility at Cox Architecture’s Midtown Workplace
Midtown Workplace is an agile 20,000-square-metre workplace spanning nine levels and merging two commercial towers in Brisbane.
Project
Hassell envisioned K11 Art Mall as an art playground
This mall proves that bricks-and-mortar retail can thrive with the right amenity-driven design, an inherent sense of fun and an eye on the future.
Workplace
Wardle’s new workplace where three heritage buildings collide
Collaborating with property investor ISPT, Wardle has revitalised 477 Pitt Street to become a new mixed-use precinct with significant heritage features.
Events
Buildings Breakthrough at COP28: Q&A with David Ness
UniSA Professor David Ness played a key role in a UN report on CO2 emissions relating to buildings, construction and urban growth which underpins the Buildings Breakthrough official launch at COP28 in Dubai.
Workplace
From tired office to luxury aged care: Adaptive reuse with Fender Katsalidis
The Alba is a transformative adaptive reuse project in Melbourne, transforming a dilapidated office building into a refined aged care residence.
Project
The awards keep coming for Quay Quarter Tower
This time, it’s the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) which has recognised the Sydney building as Best Tall Building Worldwide.
Workplace
The theatre that became an office at Watt St Commercial
CKDS has created distinctive new office space in Newcastle’s CBD following the adaptive reuse of what was previously a theatre.
Project
Koki Sugawara Architects transforms an inherited family home to meet modern needs
In Japan’s Kantō region, House For Family examples the potential of adaptive reuse for a young family.
Project
Locomotive Workshop gives the word ‘industry’ new meaning
From its industrial origins, to a hub of productivity for modern day workers, Locomotive Workshop in Sydney combines the best of heritage with the needs of today’s workforce.
Project
Studio Bipolar delivers Media Monks a new, vibrant workplace
Nestled within a lushly vegetated garden, the Media Monks Campus in India spans 100,000 square feet of dynamic, modern workspace that reflects the team’s youthful energy.
Project
Dyson converted the St James Power Station into its global headquarters
Can innovation be facilitated in a building that’s a relic of a bygone era? It’s a question Dyson and M Moser considered, with elegantly seamless results.
Project
RIS Interior Design transforms a dilapidated residential property into a gallery space
Gallery Crossroad is a good example of adaptive reuse, in which a run-down Taiwanese residential property has been converted into a culture hub for photography lovers.
Ideas
Building conservation: Its necessity in Singapore’s changing urban landscape
WY-TO Group’s winning C40 Reinventing Cities Global Competition proposal puts a new lease on life to the Bukit Timah Fire Station and sets precedents for historic conservation and adaptive reuse in Singapore.
Project
SF Lab converts abandoned warehouses into a gallery
South Korean design studio SF Lab has repurposed an abandoned warehouse into an ultra-modern, “awe-inspiring” coastal gallery.
Project
SJB brings Beaconsfield a step closer to being a 15 minute city
Tapping into the rise of the 15 minute city, SJB’s latest commercial project involves the adaptive reuse of an industrial building, in a suburb 5 kilometres south of Sydney’s CBD.
Project
Adaptive space caters for hybrid work/life the Sim-Plex way
What use does the idle office have, if we’re all working from home? Sim-Plex Design Studio proposes an adaptive spatial solution for hybrid working.
Project
Tadao Ando makes contemporary art of Paris’ built past
The adaptive reuse of Paris’ former commodities exchange into a contemporary art museum, the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection by Tadao Ando, is something else.
Project
Third space found hidden within adaptive reuse project
Known for their talent in adaptive re-use, Linehouse brings new vision to an under-utilised indoor pool at Jing’an Kerry Centre in Shanghai.
Project
Studio Bouroullec designed bespoke lights with Flos and… wow
The interstitial spaces of the architecturally iconic Bourse de Commerce, in Paris, are now seen in a whole new light thanks to Studio Bouroullec x Flos Bespoke.
Project
Woods Bagot’s progressive vision for Penrith CBD
Woods Bagot has conquered its competition in the bid to design the adaptive reuse of Penrith’s former Council Chambers into a new commercial building set to revitalise the CBD.
Project
A sweet addition to Make Architects’ Sydney portfolio
A former chocolate factory in the Haymarket district of Sydney has been refurbished to become a boutique new office building designed by Make Architects.
Project
This sustainable office begets the phrase ‘waste not, want not’
True or false: it’s possible to design and execute a contemporary office fitout that is equal parts thrifty, sustainable and stylish?
Project
Capsule hotel KINN does hyper futurism with a humanistic touch
Movies like Blade Runner and Gattaca provide the unlikely springboard into this new hotel designed by Hjgher.
News
State of the Art: NSW commits $5m to Artspace redevelopment
A worthy investment has seen NSW commit $5 million to see The Gunnery, the heritage-listed home of Artspace, undergo a state-of-the-art redevelopment.