July 2019
Intermediate to advanced
192 pages
6h 56m
English
design | adapt | rework | buildings | communities
I had originally wanted to discuss one of my favourite retrofit projects, Jakob + MacFarlane’s transformation of the Docks de Paris building from 1907 into the ‘City of Fashion and Design’. The massive in situ cast concrete frame and floor plates from the original shipping depot were kept, with the architects designing what they call a ‘plug-over’, which is actually an external steel and glass skin complemented with timber and grassed decks. The new facade is pulled away from the old frame to allow for a new circulation zone. The roof is topped off with an array of solar photovoltaic panels.
The reason I like this building ...