Somebody else's ruin is where this book starts. A rotting barn, an empty chapel, a factory nobody has used in thirty years. Upgrade is about what happens next: the rooftop extension, the glass addition set against antique brick, the church whose traditional lines now frame an office. Gestalten gathered projects that add something new to something old, rather than clearing the site and starting again. The appeal is partly practical and partly the pleasure of watching a constraint get solved. Every project here began with a building somebody already had, and the interesting work is in the join, where new meets old and neither pretends the other is not there. Is this a practical renovation guide? Not in the how-to sense. There are no plans, budgets or build sequences. It is a book of projects and ideas, written to show what is possible with a structure you already own rather than to instruct you in achieving it. At 256 pages and 240 x 300mm this is a substantial hardcover, which is why it sits as comfortably in our coffee table styling edit as it does on a reference shelf. The photography carries as much of the argument as the text. Who is it for? Anyone living with an old building and wondering what to do with it, anyone mid-renovation and in need of nerve, and readers who find adaptive reuse more interesting than new builds. It sits alongside the rest of the Gestalten range, which has a consistent eye for this territory. As a gift it lands well for someone who has just bought a place with problems: a villa that needs work, a bach that has seen better decades, a shed with potential. It says something more encouraging than a renovation manual does. It is also a good choice for anyone in architecture or building who already owns enough technical books. The rest of the range is in our books collection. What does it actually cover? Rooftop extensions, barn and factory conversions, chapel and church repurposing, farmhouse additions with modern glazing, and smaller alterations that change how an existing space works. Why you'll love it Projects built on what was already there, rather than cleared sites Barn, factory and chapel conversions alongside subtler alterations Large-format photography across 256 pages Encouraging rather than instructional, which suits anyone facing a renovation A Gestalten hardcover, so it holds up as an object on a table Genuinely useful for older housing stock with awkward bones Where it earns its place On a coffee table in a house that is itself mid-renovation, where it doubles as a conversation opener Stacked with other Gestalten titles, whose spines share a format and build a set On a studio or office shelf, where the subject reads as professional rather than decorative Face out on a shelf, since the cover deserves to be seen Alongside a bach or villa project folder, as the aspirational half of a very practical pile Product details Publisher: Gestalten Format: Hardback Pages: 256 Dimensions: 240 x 300mm Published: 2017 ISBN: 9783899556995 Browse all books at Flux Boutique
