Train Factory to Liquor Store
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Once, this sprawling brick complex in Montreal was a train factory. Now, it’s been redeveloped into housing, offices and shops. The image above shows one of the historic CPR Angus Shops buildings, built in 1904, which has been converted into a liquor store; Inhabitat has photos of additional sections that now serve as a LEED-certified office complex and low-income housing.
Air-Raid Shelter to Residence and Art Gallery
(images via: real architektur)
A World War II air raid shelter that sat in deteriorating disuse in the decades since has become the Boros Residence, inhabited by ad agency founder Christian Boros. In addition to private residential quarters, the impressive 32,000-square-foot structure serves as a gallery for the owner’s collection of contemporary art. The formerly dark spaces have been brightened thanks to the addition of a number of glass walls.
Shoe Factory to Architecture Research Center
(images via: yiorgos hadjichristou architects)
This building certainly doesn’t betray its original purpose in its new incarnation as an Architecture Research Center at the University of Nicosia. The former shoe factory in Engomi, Cyprus was re-skinned with polycarbonate panels in transparent, translucent and opaque shades of white, yellow and black. The panels bring lots of light into the space. A series of sliding walls make the multi-purpose interior adaptable to the university’s needs.
Steel Mill to Public Park
(images via: allés wirdgut)
A rambling public park occupies a space in Luxembourg that was once a steelyard and mill. Retaining visual cues of the site’s industrial past while bringing in public facilities, plants and lighting, AllesWirdGut Architecktur has completed a modern makeover that will remind many people of New York City’s High Line.
