Preservation of Modern Architecture
Wido Quist
April 16, 2026
2:30-3:30 pm Open Lecture
3:30-6:30 pm Co-creation Activity (for PoC students only)
Room 1B DAD | UniGe
Teams ID meeting: 348 264 398 899 83
Passcode: vu9bH97U
This lecture aims to assess the intrinsic durability and sustainability of buildings of the Modern Movement and to define the potential to raise both through intervention.
The triangular relation between values, design, and technology will be explored, searching for the differences and similarities between the rather fragile built legacy of the Modern Movement and the more robust built legacy of a traditional nature.
Heritage as a vector for spatial development and preservation through development will be illustrated with a focus on interventions in the building envelope. There will be a focus on Dutch cases, enriched with international examples.
Wido Quist
Associate Professor in Heritage & Technology, TU Delft
Secretary General of DOCOMOMO International
Wido Quist is an Associate Professor in 20th-century building materials and adaptive reuse of Modern Heritage. He is leading the section Heritage & Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (TU Delft, The Netherlands). Wido is Secretary General of Docomomo International and Chair of Docomomo Netherlands. Since 2022, he has been, together with Uta Pottgiesser, editor in chief of the SCOPUS-indexed Docomomo Journal. He is serving on the Faculty Career Development Committee and co-chairs the design learning line of the undergraduate curriculum.
Wido is an engaged leader, has been active in many different national and international research and educational projects, and has published extensively in the fields of construction history, adaptive reuse, and modern heritage. His research and teaching center around the preservation and adaptive reuse of the built legacy of the 20th century, connecting the specialist disciplines. Intertwining Values, Design and Technology, he is an expert on the crossing between historical knowledge of modern building materials and strategies for conservation and re-use.
Co-creation Activity
GROUP 01
Students: Krisa Çela, Anastasiia Druzhinina, Antonela Frroku, Amina Gjineci, Virginia Golin, Ximena Rodriguez, Ana Maria Sanchez, Valeria Sitzia
Balancing Heritage and Performance
Exploring how heritage architecture can evolve without losing its identity. The façade becomes a medium for dialogue, preserving natural light, rhythm, and openness while introducing new layers, materials, and improved thermal performance. Through careful intervention, the project balances continuity and change, responding to the urban context and redefining the relationship between public and private space. The aim is to strengthen the connection with the city while enhancing spatial quality, allowing past and present to coexist through subtle yet intentional design strategies.
Keywords: façade design, architectural intervention, public-private interface
GROUP 02
Students: Lorenzo Berutti Bergotto, Simone Carnesecca, Nour El Moussaoui, Moddar Khatib, Assam Lamia, Giacomo Persico, Saba Samadi, Francesco Scapuzzi
Preservation of Quality
The adaptive reuse plan for Lucia School in Rotterdam (1958) aims to improve future performance while building on its solid existing qualities. In social terms, the building already acts as a well-known community anchor, encouraging daily engagement and collective memory. In historical and architectural terms, it reflects mid-20th-century educational design through its honest materiality, solid-void relationships, and straightforward spatial organization. These characteristics define its identity and are carefully preserved. Our strategy aims to enhance these values without sacrificing this character. Simple, practical solutions such as adding sun-protection setbacks to control solar gain and indoor comfort and installing double-glazed windows to improve thermal insulation can increase sustainable value. By preserving the existing structure, embodied energy is retained and demolition waste is avoided. Social value is further enhanced by preserving the building’s recognizable form and ensuring continuity between past use and future adaptation.
Keywords: community identity, collective memory, historical value
GROUP 03
Students: Mary Abou Sekka, Nita Baholli, Niki Eftekharnia, Sofia Kalenichenko, Faeze Kamali, Donghyuk Kang, Katherine Pazmino, Vladislav Prudiakov
Reactivation of Values
Investigating how architectural intervention on the façade can reactivate the social, historical, and economic values of an existing building. Starting from the identification of what should be preserved and what can be improved, the proposal focuses on transforming an inactive and visually weak envelope into a more engaging and recognizable element within the urban context. By enhancing the entrance, introducing depth, and improving the relationship with the surroundings, the design aims to turn the building into an active interface that strengthens its identity and reconnects it with public life.
Keywords: value reactivation, urban interface, public engagement
GROUP 04
Students: Victoria Akhundov, Andrei Eliseev, Zahra Gholamzadeh, Alon Gilinski, Andrea Giuseppe Spinelli, Negin Tamjid, Eteri Velijanashvili
Preserving Identity Through Transformation
The project is grounded in a careful balance between preservation and transformation, where the existing façade is seen not as an obstacle but as a fundamental asset. The original façade is maintained as the primary expression of the building’s identity. Its rhythm, proportions, and material character are preserved to retain the architectural and historical continuity of the structure. Rather than replacing, the project focuses on maintenance and upgrading. The intervention improves environmental performance and usability while respecting the integrity of the original structure through minimal and reversible actions. The façade is not redesigned, but reinterpreted, preserved in its essence and enhanced through a measured contemporary layer that allows the building to remain relevant over time.
Keywords: continuity, identity, maintenance
GROUP 05
Students: Kristina Bujnakova, Elizabete Dreimane, Setareh Momen Zadeh, Lea Neufeldova, Kimia Piri, Torkan Rostamlou, Toms Martins Šaķis, Neda Saljoughi
How to Transform Without Losing Identity
This carousel presents a framework for adapting a modernist façade through adaptive reuse. Instead of proposing a final design, we define a set of “ingredients” that guide the transformation process. By analysing values, material authenticity, and current performance needs, we explore how the façade can be preserved, adapted, and extended to support a new cultural function. The aim is to balance heritage and change, respecting the building’s identity while making it future-proof. We believe that a good intervention does not replace the past; it builds on it.
Keywords: design process, adaptive reuse, transformation
GROUP 06
Students: Yacine Azzouni, Mahdieh Chehrazi, Mahmoud Elkafrawy, Negar Ghodrati, Nima Hojati, Helia Kamalpour, Nadjib Achour Mohamed, Ahmad Othman, Rasa Rahmani
Restoring Balance
A great building worth preserving must combine three qualities: function, sustainability, and aesthetics. If one is missing, the design should be improved carefully to restore balance and value. The central courtyard between the two buildings is currently neglected and unused; it can be redesigned as a green shared space for relaxation, gathering, and daily activities. Single-layer windows and plain concrete walls, common in modernist architecture, waste energy. Windows should be replaced with double glazing, and thermal insulation should be added to the walls. Exposed concrete frameworks create thermal bridges, transferring outdoor temperatures indoors and reducing comfort and efficiency. Installing insulating thermal breaks where the framework meets the roof can reduce energy loss while preserving the historic exterior appearance. The windows on the right are outdated and visually inconsistent with those on the left. Replacing them with matching designs would improve aesthetics, comfort, sustainability, and long-term building performance.
Keywords: building retrofitting, energy efficiency, architectural sustainability
GROUP 07
Students: Jessica Beimdick, Amir Kooshan Fotoohi, Farnaz Ghadam Zadeh, Yeganeh Ghamatitavil, Ali Hajian, Md Saiful Islam, Pardis Mardan, Ilinca Neculae, Hasti Yousefi
Framing the Future
Our proposal redefines the conservation of the St. Lucia School in Rotterdam by shifting the focus from static preservation to a forward-looking adaptive reuse framework. Under the theme “Framing the Future,” we treat the building’s façade not as a frozen historical artifact, but as a flexible, high-performance system capable of evolving with contemporary environmental and social needs. By analysing the building’s inherent DNA, specifically its horizontal window rhythm and modular repetition, we identify the essential values that must be preserved to maintain its post-war modern identity. This approach mitigates the risks of low energy performance and functional obsolescence while preventing the cultural loss associated with demolition. Ultimately, our intervention advocates a “100% heritage” philosophy, in which the thoughtful adaptation of ordinary structures becomes a sustainable tool for urban continuity.
Keywords: adaptive reuse, façade transformation, post-war modernism
GROUP 08
Students: Elaheh Aghamolaei, Yamama Khalil, Amirreza Namdan, Mohammadreza Rostami, Ibrahim Sabri, Ashkan Shoari
A Preservation-Led Adaptive Reuse Strategy
This proposal adopts a preservation-led strategy, treating the Sint Lucia School as a living urban artifact rather than a static relic. By embracing its post-war modernist spatial logic, it prioritizes the building’s unique hybrid typology: the juxtaposition of educational and industrial spaces. To achieve this, it proposes minimal, reversible interventions, preserving the original massing and rhythmic façade while ensuring that all new additions remain lightweight and clearly distinguishable from the historic fabric. In addition, maintaining the U-shaped plan and natural lighting reinforces spatial continuity. Crucially, the proposal activates the ground floor as a public interface, transforming the formerly private learning environment into a vibrant social catalyst for Rotterdam. Guided by the “do no harm” principle, this adaptive reuse strategy ensures that the transformation of the school into a contemporary cultural hub enhances its heritage value while securing a sustainable functional future.
Keywords: adaptive reuse, heritage preservation, urban integration
GROUP 09
Students: Elaheh Aghamolaei, Yamama Khalil, Amirreza Namdan, Mohammadreza Rostami, Ibrahim Sabri, Ashkan Shoari
Reading Values Before Redesigning Architecture
Our project investigates the Garage Ben Maltha / Kweekschool Sint Lucia in Rotterdam as a layered example of modern heritage. Built in the context of post-war reconstruction, the building combined different social values within a single structure: mobility, education, work, and public life. Rather than treating the façade as a surface to redesign, the project begins with observation. Its material identity, rhythm, openings, colours, and urban relationship are read as part of a wider architectural and social system. The proposal preserves the elements that carry identity and adapts only what is necessary to support reuse and energy efficiency. By reducing the material and colour palette, improving glazing, and respecting the existing façade composition, the project aims to reactivate the building without erasing its historical and social meaning. Conservation becomes not only protection, but also a way to make modern heritage useful, legible, and socially active again.
Keywords: social value, sustainability, reuse
