#heritage-conservation

#heritage-conservation

Across this week's broader architecture news landscape, a central theme emerges around the advancement of civic architecture conceived as open, publicly engaged infrastructure, with cultural and institutional projects increasingly designed to strengthen their relationship with the city and everyday urban life. At the same time, renewed global attention turns toward Africa, where large-scale transport infrastructure and the conservation of modernist landmarks reflect interests in the region and the reassessment of the continent's architectural heritage.

A lightweight, 3D printed and textile roof protects the Tombs of Postumio and Tres Puertas at the Archaeological Complex of Carmona in Seville, rethinking how contemporary architecture can engage with heritage conservation. The project by Juan Carlos Gómez de Cózar and Manuel Ordóñez Martín introduces a single canopy that covers both Roman tombs while operating as an environmental machine designed to stabilize their long-term preservation.

Historic center renewal has become a recurring strategy in Central American cities seeking to reassert the symbolic, economic, and functional relevance of their traditional cores. These processes often combine physical rehabilitation, institutional investment, and stricter control over public space. San Salvador offers a recent and instructive case, which allows for understanding of how interventions in inherited civic spaces balance infrastructure improvement with heritage conservation and social regulation.

One of the UK's most complete collections of cast-iron street lamp posts are at risk of being chucked and replaced with banal and ugly alternatives, campaigners are warning. There are approximately 270 historic lampposts in Canterbury's collection, many of which were cast in a foundry in the city, which are at risk of being replaced with generic steel poles fitted with standardised heritage-style embellishments.

This week's architectural news reflects a broad engagement with how institutions, practitioners, and cultural platforms are positioning themselves in relation to both legacy and long-term change. Across museums, galleries, and major cultural events, architecture is being framed as an evolving public infrastructure, one that must respond to expanding collections, shifting curatorial models, and growing expectations around accessibility, sustainability, and civic presence.

Ana Skobe + 16 Category: Renovation, Cultural Center Collaborators: Saso Badovinac, Olga Bombac, German Bosch, Grega Cerar, Oscar Espinosa, Jure Kolenc, Carlos Parra, Damian Plouganou, Bor Pungersc Client: Ayuntamiento de Liubliana

David Walsh claims the fence around his four-storey townhouse was put up to stop foxes entering his garden. But his neighbours have accused him of making the heritage area look like a POW camp and causing a public safety risk. Mr Walsh, founder of insurance company CFC, bought the property in 2023. In retrospective planning documents he argued that the inclusion of the fence was intended for fox prevention purposes, according to the Daily Mail.

Deciding to renovate a listed building adds in a whole other level of skill and determination, not just from you, but from your professional team too. Whether it's the mysteries you uncover, the damage you find, or the planning constraints that can make design and purchasing more time consuming and costly, it's not a journey to take without gaining some understanding of just what's involved.

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction has announced the Grand Prize Winners of the 2025 Holcim Awards, selecting one project from each global region to represent the most impactful approaches to sustainable design in this cycle. This edition marks the introduction of the Grand Prize format, replacing the previous tiered distinctions to better acknowledge diverse regional contexts and avoid hierarchical rankings. Evaluated by juries chaired by Sou Fujimoto (Asia Pacific), Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (Europe), Sandra Barclay (Latin America), Lina Ghotmeh (Middle East and Africa), and Jeanne Gang (North America), the winning projects reflect the Foundation's principles of holistic, transformational, and transferable design.

Courtesy of Small Luxury Hotels and Namia River Retreat + 26 Category: Hospitality Architecture Design Team: Pedro Pedalino, Daniel Alonso, Phuong Nguyen, Huy Truong, Kha Pham, Ho Gia Luan, Quy Le Project Management: Lumina Wellbeing - Operator Interior Design: LifeStyle Connected, Florence Mussou - Art Director Engineering & Consulting > Lighting: Kobi Lighting Studio Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Indochina E&C Engineering & Consulting > Services: Tran Duc Homes More SpecsLess Specs Trieu Chien Text description provided by the architects.

is bad for the preservation of bones,

Funded by Transport for London (TfL) and Railway Heritage Trust (RHT), the project has restored the long-disused building on platform 1 into a new public waiting room, along with an accessible toilet and additional staff spaces. While clearing out the building, which had been closed for 40 years, the team unearthed remnants of Victorian furniture, including three heavily damaged benches. While one bench was beyond repair, two were able to be restored and are now in the waiting room.

Heritage conservation forms its own biotope of project stories stories that carry urgent relevance for today's architectural debates and initiatives.

The restoration of Richmond station to its early Art Deco grandeur has been completed, with original features repaired and lost features replicated in modern materials. The Art Deco gem first opened in 1937, designed by the Southern Railway team led by chief architect James Robb Scott. In the decades since, alterations and weathering had degraded its elegant appearance and distinctive architectural details.

Text description provided by the architects. The Crismina fort is one of the three XVIII century forts of the old defense line of the coast of Cascais, following the conflict between Portugal and Spain. This fortified structure is mainly an empty space, fenced by walls, partly deteriorated by wind erosion and other atmospheric phenomena. The walls have different heights and thickness defining an irregular polygon.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced 20 winners of the 2025 National Awards, recognizing significant contributions to architecture across the UK.

The reopening of Orchardton Tower highlights Scotland's unique architectural heritage, marking it as the only free-standing circular tower house still standing—a testament to 15th-century noble life.