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17 Unexpected Things Converted Into Minimalist Homes | #WaccabucNY Homes

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For an architect, there’s something undeniably god-like about synthesizing the old and the new. Adaptive reuse—in this case turning non-residential buildings into houses—lessens the physical proximity of the past to the future by sublimely juxtaposing sterile white voids with, say, a primal industrial exoskeleton. Modernizing doesn’t simply mean adding a kitchen island and green roof; it often comes with the responsibility of intense and demanding site concerns. A Victorian water tower comes with six-foot-thick walls, while the façade of a medieval castle is relegated to mere ornament in the pursuit of both safety and functionality. Inspired by Curbed’s avid Pinterest community, here’s a look back on a wide array of completely insane projects that (seemingly sane) architects have chosen to take on. Intrigued? Find some examples below, and visit the Pinterest board to see the ones that didn’t make the cut.

Onward! >>

↑ A Seattle boat house comes back to life as a vacation cottage.
↑ Our favorite thing about this minimalist retreat by Bosworth Hoedemaker? It still serves as a boat shed.
↑ This sleek home is cut From a 150-Year-Old water tower.
↑ The couple had to contend with Gothic six-foot-thick walls, a veritable graveyard of pigeons, and steel water tanks. However, it was worth it because that view.
↑ Former Netherlands church reborn as svelte modern home.
↑ The main spatial void is broken up into miniaturized rooms with pristine wide modular volumes that create a ghost-like presence within the church.
↑ A Run-down garage is reborn as an illuminated lakeside cabin.
↑ Seattle firm Graypants, Inc. describe the task as, “reinvigorating a tired, post World War II structure (aka: shitty garage).”
↑ This minimalist open-plan abode was once a drab cabin. Third-generation architect Takaaki Kawabata subtly transforms an upstate N.Y. log cabin into a sublime meditation on Japanese communal living.
↑ Revamping a Montreal storefront into a peekaboo apartment.
↑ The pristine white surfaces of this former storefront juxtapose purposefully with exposed I-beams and unrefined brick walls.
↑ There’s a glossy home inside this Netherlands church.
↑ Ruud Visser Architects build a generic single family home and delicately place it within the gutted exoskeleton of a former church.