Cast Iron House

摘要

This project consists of a gut renovation of an existing landmarked commercial building - renowned for its ornate cast-iron facade from the late 19th century ― into a luxury condominium building with a new 2-storey penthouse on top most floor. For the renovation of the existing building, the facade, which needs to be completely preserved in the original form, has been detached from the floors, allowing the spaces on the inside to be self-supporting in order to change the floor levels inside. Whenever a new floor level runs across an existing window opening, the floor edge is made to match the thickness of the horizontal frame of the existing window, concealing the floor structure when viewed from the outside. The penthouse structure employs a cantilevered Vierendeel truss, which appears to float above the existing cast-iron building.