The best renovations of 2024

Reuse of architecture is a shared value, as a selection of projects published this year can tell us, including symbols reborn, large stations, small clubs, museums, houses and, predictably, a lot of Paris.

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Giovanni Comoglio
16 December 2024

As we continue our exploration through a year of Domus, the category that embraces all the others, i.e. renovation, also speaks to us of architectures that acquire value the moment they take it on for the community, often at the moment when it is an idea of reuse to gives such value. And this happens without distinction of function, geography and, above all, scale. We start with Paris, which in 2024 has endeavored a deep self-rethinking, between the reopening of Notre Dame, the restoration of the Grand Palais for the Olympics and the temporary rebirth of the Tati – the former “Galeries Lafayette du pauvre”, as its founder called it – to bring together the international basketball community. From Mad Architects’ gigantic manifesto train station in China to a small club with great importance for another community – surfers in Ghana – we then meet museums rethought in Amsterdam by Marcelis and Cournet, or created inside Scottish palaces by Mecanoo, Wright’s theatre reopened at Taliesin, different visions of different countrysides and houses from Canada to Switzerland that rethink the value of history preserved in the structure, or reflect on the idea of workers’ living, taking it from the 20th century to the present day.

Paris rediscovers Notre Dame, where everything is as it was, except design...

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Photo Arnaud Sabatier

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Photo Arnaud Sabatier

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Photo Arnaud Sabatier

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Photo Arnaud Sabatier

The liturgical garments of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Photo Alix Marnat

The liturgical garments of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Photo Alix Marnat

The liturgical garments of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Photo Alix Marnat

The liturgical garments of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Photo Alix Marnat

At 7 p.m. on April 15, 2019, the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral—a jewel of 12th-century Gothic architecture and one of the most visited churches in the world—succumbed to flames. Faced with such a severe shock, reconstruction became a national priority. Read more

...and the Grand Palais, restored by Chatillon Architectes

Henri Deglane, Albert Louvet, Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas, Charles Girault, Grand Palais, Paris, 1900 Renovation Project by Chatillon Architectes, 2024. Photo Laurent Kronental

The Grand Palais represents a certain idea of France, encompassing both its grandeur and adventures. Built in record time from the ashes of the Palais de l’Industrie, this massive complex designed to host the 1900 Universal Exhibition has stood as a new symbol of modernity since its inauguration. As large as the palace of Versailles, it embodies an architectural vision that combines the ideas of splendor and progress. Read more

Paris again, where Jordan has regenerated the former Tati Barbès department store to celebrate basketball

"District 23". 18 arrondissement, Paris, France. Image courtesy of Jordan Brand.

Founded by young Tunisian immigrant Jules Ouaki in 1948, the Tati department store chain — known for transforming the fashion industry with its low-cost textiles and distinctive pink gingham pattern — debuted in Paris with its flagship store Barbès in the 18th arrondissement, a neighborhood inhabited by immigrant communities from diverse diasporic backgrounds. Read more

MAD’s train station in Jiaxing, aiming to be a model for Chinese infrastructure

New train station in Jiaxing by MAD Architects All images courtesy Mad Architects

Located in the center of Jiaxing, a historic city 100 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, the project replaces an old train station that stood on the site between 1995 and 2019, with an area of only 4,000 square meters, no longer suitable for a rapidly expanding city. Read more

A former city hall in Scotland, transformed into a museum by Mecanoo

Mecanoo, Perth Museum, Perth, Scotland, 2024. Photo Greg Holmes Photography

Mecanoo, Perth Museum, Perth, Scotland, 2024 Situation before the project. Photo Mecanoo

Mecanoo, Perth Museum, Perth, Scotland, 2024. Situation before the project. Photo Mecanoo

The Perth Museum, restored by the Dutch firm Mecanoo, is one of the iconic sites of Scottish history and culture, now home to arguably the world's most famous piece of sandstone, the Stone of Scone – also known as Stone of Destiny – which for centuries since the times of Edward I Plantagenet has been a source of contention between England and Scotland. Read more

The new Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam by Paul Cournet and Sabine Marcelis

CLOUD, renovation of the Stedelijk Museum entrance spaces, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2024 Photo Peter Tijhuis

With a collection of around 90,000 works from 1870 to the present day, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is the most important museum of modern and contemporary art in the Netherlands. To celebrate the city's 750th anniversary, the Museum has renovated its entrance spaces to make them more accessible and attractive to the entire community, with the aim of bringing an increasingly heterogeneous public closer to the world of art. Read more

The transformation of a ruin in Sardinia, from unkept bushes to public space

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

Martino Picchedda, Casa delle tradizioni. Simala, Sardinia, Italy 2024

Photo Cédric Dasesson

In Simala, a small town in Sardinia, Martino Picchedda’s studio has transformed an old ruin into a new public place. What was once a house thus opens up to the outdoors, the thicket of plants that haunted the abandoned place lets the stone pavement and wall fragments describe a new idea of space, and what was once an entrance archway lets the area and its renewed identity be accessed from the street. Read more

An ancient mill in Brittany becomes a contemporary winery

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Photo Guillaume Amat

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Project drawing

Carmen Maurice Architecture, Wine Storehouse in Sarzeau, France, 2024

Project drawing

In France, on the peninsula of Rhuys, the municipality of Sarzeau has launched an initiative to revive the local wine culture that, for centuries, defined the area, located in the heart of Brittany, for centuries.
This revival of the wine industry has become a project of replanting vineyards and an opportunity to regenerate and restore some of the historic structures that dot the countryside. Read more

From barn to home, a transformation in Veneto

Didonè Comacchio Architects, House DB, Rosà, Vicenza, Italy Photo Alberto Sinigaglia

A former barn located in an early 20th-century farmhouse in Rosà in the province of Vicenza, Italy, has been transformed into a modern, well-balanced flat by Didonè Comacchio Architects. Once located above a stable, the space has retained some of its original characteristics: the roughness of the bricks and wood, the robustness of the pillars that mark out the rooms, the arched shape of the window at the entrance, and the spatial balance and regularity. Read more

From garage to contemporary living, a renovation in rural Canada

Atelier l’Abri, Maison Melba, Frelighsburgh, Canada, 2023 Photo Alex Lesage

Acting from a sustainable perspective, attentive to the context and the ecosystem, cannot be linked only to influential urban works. In Canada, Atelier l'Abri has developed an approach to reusing an old garage built in the 70s, which involves a careful and quality operation on a rural building, maintaining the typical characteristics of the area but acting profoundly on the insertion of new spaces within it. Read more

A community-oriented, award-winning renovation in Ghanaian surfing Mecca

DeRoché Strohmayer, Community surf lodge, Busua, Ghana 2023 Foto Julien Lanoo

DeRoché Strohmayer, Community surf lodge, Busua, Ghana 2023 site plan

DeRoché Strohmayer, Community surf lodge, Busua, Ghana 2023 plan and sections

DeRoché Strohmayer, Community surf lodge, Busua, Ghana 2023 axonometry

DeRoché Strohmayer, Community surf lodge, Busua, Ghana 2023 schemes

Busua, a small village on Ghana's west coast, is a 'Mecca' for surfers who gather here from all over the country to try and ride the big wave. Along the endless sandy beach, amidst the lush vegetation and scattered tiny buildings, architects Glenn DeRoché and Juergen Strohmayer renovated the one-room building that houses Surf Ghana (an organisation that promotes youth empowerment through sport) and is the main meeting point for young people in the area. Read more