Renovation

The Zhoushan Summer Hotel was completed five years ago. The strategy of adding balconies and changing the facades at that time changed the limitations of the original square-shaped houses in the area and brought a new sense of interior and exterior. As the Summer Hotel became more famous, this design strategy gradually evolved into a facade style in the following years. Almost all the newly built houses in the village had same white walls with square windows. The goal of reversing the villagers’ desire to build “European-style villas” through a simple facade effect was quickly achieved.

The clients, a British couple, purchased an abandoned village consisting of six sets of run-down buildings with the aim of rehabilitating each space and turning it back into a village. The project aims to create local accommodation for wellness retreats with a sustainable approach, offering permaculture workshops, yoga, reiki and lots of contact with nature. In the first phase, the first complex was rehabilitated.

The old campus at Sint Pietersstation in Ghent stretched between Koning Boudewijnstraat and Koning Albertlaan and consisted of a sequence of several buildings (with two facades and two views) on the street and three smaller buildings in the courtyard. The whole did not show its semi-public programme to the neighbourhood in any way. In addition, the campus’ existing buildings formed an unorganised whole, both structurally and architecturally. Over the years, various interventions and renovations distorted and warped this cluster of buildings, resulting in a lack of functional coherence, interaction, and legibility. Maximum efforts were initially made to preserve the existing infrastructure: the old archives cellar was transformed into a bicycle shed and made accessible from the street, and the three existing rear volumes were stripped and renovated in their entirety according to BEN principles. Despite their robust structure, the existing main volumes were not compatible with contemporary comfort requirements and were replaced by a new volume in wood construction. By building with wood, the carbon footprint of the new building is significantly reduced, a very conscious choice by the client and the design team.

The Shirokanedai House project is a meticulous renovation of a 50-year-old two-storey wooden residence situated in the vibrant Minato ward of Tokyo. The owner, a seasoned real estate professional, had long rented out the empty lot. Upon the departure of the last tenants, it came back with a property built on it. Considering the prohibitive costs of demolition in Japan coupled with the property’s good condition, the owner decided to have Roovice rejuvenate and modernize the house for continued rental use.