Renovation With Nerve: 8 Times Architects Made Preservation and Progress Collide

Call for entries: The 14th Architizer A+Awards celebrates architecture's new era of craft. For early bird pricing, submit by October 31st.

Across cities and villages, architecture continually negotiates the tension between memory and transformation. Renewal projects, whether modest restorations or large-scale expansions, expose the fragile line between preservation and innovation. They ask: how much of the old must remain for something new to belong? Rather than simply celebrating harmony, these projects often embrace friction, the coexistence of difference, as a space for meaning.

Well-known examples such as Zaha Hadid Architects’ Antwerp Port House, where a crystalline volume is boldly placed on a historic fire station. The contrast between old and new is not always comfortable — nor should it be. Sometimes it unsettles, questioning authenticity, continuity and the role of architecture in shaping collective memory. Yet it is just within this tension that renewal gains depth.

The winners of the 13th A+Awards continue this exploration of balance and contrast. They show that renewal is less about nostalgia or novelty than about reactivation, transforming dormant structures into living frameworks for contemporary life. Through sensitive design, material intelligence and critical awareness, these works turn decay into dialogue and heritage into potential.

Folger Shakespeare Library

By KieranTimberlake, Washington, USA

Jury Winner, Architecture +Renovation, 13th Architizer A+Awards

The Folger Shakespeare Library renewal transforms a revered historic landmark into a more accessible, inclusive cultural institution. Originally designed by Paul Cret in 1932, the building has been sensitively expanded beneath its historic terrace — an extraordinary technical and spatial feat within a National Register site. KieranTimberlake’s intervention introduces light-filled underground galleries, new reading rooms, and gathering areas that open the library to a broader public without disturbing its neoclassical integrity. Upgraded mechanical systems, accessibility features, and reconfigured research spaces ensure long-term sustainability while preserving architectural dignity.

Cai Yuanpei Square and Jiemin Library

By The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University (UAD), Shaoxing, China

Popular Choice Winner, Architecture +Renewal, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Located in Shaoxing’s historic core, this renewal project revitalizes a cultural precinct through sensitive preservation and innovative architectural language. The design unites three interventions — the enhancement of Cai Yuanpei Square, the renovation of Zimen Cinema, and the construction of Zimen Library — forming a continuous narrative of heritage and modernity. UAD kept the L-shaped urban layout while removing incongruous structures to open new civic space. The renovated Zimen Cinema, meanwhile, fuses its original framework with contemporary performance facilities.

Streaming Light Exhibition Hall – Courtyard Renovation for the GuanZhong Mangba Art Festival

By Daipu Architects, Xi’an, China

Popular Choice Winner, Architecture +Metal, 13th Architizer A+Awards

This renovation project transforms a corrupted village courtyard into an exhibition hall for the GuanZhong Mangba Art Festival. Once an abandoned kitchen and warehouse, the site is reimagined through adaptive reuse that enhances function, resilience, and aesthetic continuity. Daipu Architects introduced a dynamic wave-shaped metal facade inspired by local roof tiles. A circular entrance passage activates movement and triggers a rotating mesh system guiding rainwater across the courtyard.

Vistalcielo

By Veinte Diezz Arquitectos, Mérida, Mexico

Popular Choice Winner, Concepts: Architecture + Renovation, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Vistalcielo symbolizes renewal through intimate scale and poetic restraint. Rescuing an abandoned house in Mérida’s historic center, Veinte Diezz Arquitectos fuses regional craftsmanship with contemporary spatial fluidity. The design unfolds as a sequence of courtyards and modules. Subtle curves replace rigid geometry, while regional stone, textured concrete and sky-blue grilles evoke the building’s past with renewed vitality. Natural ventilation and diffused light animate every space, creating moments of calm and connection.

Luxe Lakes CPI Island

By Vari Architects, Chengdu, China

Jury Winner, Architecture +Renewal, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Designed by Vari Architects, set within Chengdu’s Luxe Lakes Ecological City, this renewal transforms an island of dormant villa models into a commercial social landscape. Architects approached the project as both preservation and re-creation. Guided by Japanese philosopher Washida Kiyokazu’s notions of “Average Temperature” and “Subtle Scenery,” the design seeks equilibrium between architecture, topography, and local lifestyle. Chengdu’s culture of ease and balance. By re-stitching fragmented urban fabric and activating idle properties, CPI Island becomes a contemporary renewal of place identity.

Portland International Airport Main Terminal Expansion

By ZGF Architects, Portland, Oregon

Jury Winner, Sustainable Transportation Project, 13th Architizer A+Awards

The main terminal expansion at Portland International Airport transforms one of America’s most beloved airports into an example of regional renewal and sustainable growth. Designed by ZGF Architects, the project doubles the terminal’s footprint. The centerpiece is its undulating roof, crafted from locally sourced mass plywood and glulam timber, that pays homage to the Pacific Northwest’s forest heritage. Supported by 34 sculptural Y-shaped columns, this vast wooden canopy filters daylight through skylights.