Brief
The client wanted the renovation to feel changed but not erased. The task was to make the retained wall useful, not sentimental.
Old Wall New Rooms keeps the emotional and structural presence of an existing wall, then uses it as the spine for a clearer set of contemporary rooms.
- Type
- Renovation Strategy
- Location
- Kirtipur
- Year
- 2023
- Status
- Feasibility study
Case notes
The case study is organized around intent, constraint, and the spatial decisions that make the project useful.
Context
The existing fabric carried character and constraint in equal measure. New openings and room divisions had to respect the wall's weight while improving daily use.
Strategy
- Treat the retained wall as a spatial spine for the new plan.
- Cut fewer openings, but make each one clarify a relationship between rooms.
- Contrast repaired surfaces with simpler new insertions.
Materials
Repaired masonry, lime plaster, dark timber, and quiet metal details keep old and new work distinct without creating a hard split.
Gallery
Rooms in sequence.
Large views are paired with short captions so the page reads as a spatial walk-through, not a grid of thumbnails.
Specifications
A compact record of scope, role, and the spatial concerns that shaped the work.
- Scope
- Renovation feasibility
- Primary move
- Retained wall as room spine
- Focus
- Continuity, openings, adaptive reuse
- Role
- Feasibility, room planning, material direction
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