Adaptive reuse architects in NSW

Adaptive reuse means changing what a building is used for while keeping what makes it worth saving. A warehouse becomes apartments, a house becomes a restaurant, a service building becomes a place for art. Done well, the new use feels as if it always belonged, and the town keeps a building that tells part of its story.

It is also some of the most demanding work an architect can do. Old structures bring surprises, building codes have moved on, and a change of use usually needs council approval. We plan for all of that from the first visit, working with engineers, heritage specialists and certifiers, so the building's character survives the upgrade.

MC07 Apartments is the adaptive reuse of an existing red brick warehouse in Orange. The brief called for two apartments and a ground floor retail space, working within the warehouse's distinctive brick walls. Custom black steel blades run along both street frontages, providing privacy and sun protection and giving the building an almost industrial identity.

The project, approved and awaiting construction, represents a typology that is just starting to be explored in Orange: high end multi residential living. It is a good example of how a warehouse conversion can add to a streetscape rather than simply fill it.

Sweet Sour Salt, a well established modern Asian restaurant in Orange, needed more room. The owners moved into a converted 1920s house near the centre of town that had been used as a restaurant in various guises but had sat empty for some time. We opened up the dining spaces through strategic wall removal, restructured the entry, dining and bar areas, and moved the bar to the front of the building.

Colour, graphics and an innovative low cost lighting solution tie the old rooms together. The restaurant quickly became a destination dining experience in the Central West, and the project was a Dulux National Colour finalist.

The Forbes Cultural Centre is the brainchild of the Forbes Art Society, the group behind the acclaimed Sculpture Down the Lachlan program, which has seen more than 20 large scale sculptures installed along the Lachlan River between Forbes and Condobolin. Our design, now under construction, restores and extends the historic former Forbes Ambulance Station to hold a series of exhibition spaces, a gallery shop, a cafe and function spaces.

Projects like this show what adaptive reuse can do for a regional town: a building that could have been lost becomes a place people gather.

Many adaptive reuse architecture firms are based in the cities. We are based in Orange, and regional towns are full of solid old buildings waiting for their next use. Before recommending a direction, we look at the structure, the history, the planning controls and the feasibility together, so you know what a building can realistically become.

For larger commercial buildings, see also our commercial architecture work, and for heritage houses our heritage architecture page.