Md Al Amin Sohan

Heritage sites constitute complex spatial archives in which architecture, history, and collective memory converge. They encompass a wide spectrum of contexts—from archaeological remains, ancient and historic townscapes, UNESCO-listed landscapes, to early modern civic structures and industrial infrastructures. Yet these environments confront challenges: climate change, urban transformation, disaster, shifting social needs, and the gradual erosion of material fabric. Revitalization and restoration projects respond to these conditions by positioning architectural and spatial practice as an active mediator between preservation and the contemporary topologies.

The transformation of the chapel of the Saint-Joseph convent in Saint-Félicien is founded on a guiding principle: designing with what already exists. The intervention seeks neither to erase nor to stage the heritage, but rather to offer a precise and measured reinterpretation of its architectural qualities in service of new cultural uses. The 342 m² chapel has been converted into a versatile cultural venue hosting cinema, theatre, and exhibitions. The project forms part of a broader strategy for the requalification of the convent and its gardens, led by the municipality in collaboration with local associations. From the earliest stages, the definition of the program was developed in close partnership with the client, through a process grounded in attentive dialogue, trust, and a strong commitment from the local authority.

Niko Restaurant is located in the city center of Yerevan, Armenia, within a building originally designed during the Soviet period by architect Nikoghayos Buniatyan. The client’s brief called for a comfort-food restaurant interior developed within a very limited budget and a tight timeframe.

In the bay of Zihuantanejo, atop a hill that slopes down to Playa la Madera, rises Carpinteros, a residential building inspired by the sails that traverse the coast and the craft of transformation. The project translates the relationship between wind, material, and landscape into architecture that dialogues with the sea, the supporting slope and its context.

A modern intervention within a timeless exoskeleton—where classical aspirations find voice through the lens of a minimalist practice. It is an encounter between eras, fusing the design sensibilities of two worlds: the permanence of antiquity and the precision of the present.

Architectural heritage is not only what a building was, but what it continues to become: a long process of building, rebuilding, and re-occupying over time. Where opportunities allow, this continuity produces a layered condition—one in which visitors can witness, experience, and feel the gradual shifting of a building’s fabric, materiality, spatial order, and patterns of use, and occasionally even participate in that transformation.

The project addresses a challenge shared across Europe: how can we intervene in a complex urban fabric while preserving the histories of its inhabitants and the material traces that shape it? How can one act in an “acupunctural” manner—revitalizing the city without total demolition, without starting from scratch?

The new Cultural Center is located in a historic setting that is part of the Flix agricultural cooperative complex. The new space contributes to the recovery and enhancement of the building’s historical and social features and elements. The basic interventions to enable the new center’s use are: foundation and ground stability, structural consolidation, and comfort of the interior spaces.

In this complete renovation project, a 60m² apartment breathes new life, revealing a narrative that delicately blends past and present through architectural finesse.