Restoration

The restoration of the ensemble of heritage buildings on Buffelsdrift, west of Ladismith in the arid Klein Karoo region of the Western Cape, by SAOTA and Jaco Booyens Architect, a specialist in clay buildings, recently won the gold medal at the seventh edition (2019) of the international Domus Restoration and Conservation Award (www.premiorestauro.it) in Italy. The award recognises “excellence in the field of restoration, redevelopment and architectural and landscape recovery at an international level”.

Founded 130 years ago, the Westin Miyako Kyoto is an elegant hotel with a proud history nestled into the foothills of the city’s Higashiyama district. That same elegance and quality were essential in this major renovation and earthquake retrofit of the chapel, which occupies a separate building on the hotel property.

CACMU Verde is located in the historic centre of Ibarra, an Ecuadorian town set in the Andes in the of the Country. The building is heritage- listed with the Ecuadorian National Institute of Cultural Heritage. The original site consisted of built and unbuilt areas.

Occupying the ground floor of an Edwardian Terrace in the Highgate conservation area, this project reworks and expands the footprint and volume of what was originally a small one bedroom flat.

Completed in 1914, the Cook County Hospital building is a designated Chicago Landmark and once stood as the symbolic heart of the Illinois Medical District healthcare community. Vacant since 2002, the building had fallen into a severe state of disrepair and was threatened with demolition. Instead, SOM led a design-build collaboration for general contractor Walsh Construction, with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and interior designers KOO, to carefully preserve, restore, and adapt the former hospital building to meet the changing needs of the neighborhood.