As the need for sustainable alternatives to building anew becomes increasingly urgent, the AR New into Old awards celebrate architectural adaptations and remodelings that welcome new contemporary uses to older buildings. These awards speak of what we inherit and preserve, why we assemble and transform, and how the spaces we appropriate can be reimagined to suggest that the world could be different.
Launched in 2017, the awards recognise imaginative appropriations of structures, from innovative insertions to ambitious adaptations, that offer buildings a new lease of life.
Past winners include SO-IL and Freaks Architecture’s adaptation of a former glass factory into a cultural centre in France (2023) and ZAV Architects’ conversion of a 1930s house into a film studio in Iran (2021).
Entries for 2025’s awards are now closed.
Why enter
All entries will be reviewed by an expert international judging panel and the top six commended projects will be visited by an independent critic.
What to enter
Rather than simple renovations, eligible projects must evidence a programmatic change and have been completed in the last five years.