Old buildings tell stories – of people, events, and places. This issue of DETAIL magazine, titles 'Building in Existing Contexts' shows how architects preserve these stories, continue them, and create new spaces within them.

Building in existing contexts conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces carbon emissions - good reasons to choose conversion over new build. Yet there is another, less tangible dimension: time. With additions, adaptations, patina, and cracks, it leaves its mark and stores memories in the buildings. The school where you learned to read, the factory that fed half the village, the church where your parents were married, or your grandparents’ farm - such places shape the identity of a community.

To carry these stories forward requires sensitivity to materials, spaces, and histories. Some interventions are so discreet that only trained eyes notice them - often compared by architects to the restoration of a classic car. Others are more radical: ceiling panels tilted and set diagonally into a room, or large atriums cut into the existing architecture.

At times, we may need to rethink our ingrained aesthetics and ask whether materials with a problematic reputation - such as fibre cement panels (Eternit) - can still be used, or whether cut edges might be left uncovered. With time as a fourth dimension, building becomes a dialogue between past, present, and future. The projects in this issue that work with and on existing structures cast a special light on this theme.

Old buildings tell stories – of people, events, and places. This issue of DETAIL magazine, titles 'Building in Existing Contexts' shows how architects preserve these stories, continue them, and create new spaces within them.

Building in existing contexts conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces carbon emissions - good reasons to choose conversion over new build. Yet there is another, less tangible dimension: time. With additions, adaptations, patina, and cracks, it leaves its mark and stores memories in the buildings. The school where you learned to read, the factory that fed half the village, the church where your parents were married, or your grandparents’ farm - such places shape the identity of a community.

To carry these stories forward requires sensitivity to materials, spaces, and histories. Some interventions are so discreet that only trained eyes notice them - often compared by architects to the restoration of a classic car. Others are more radical: ceiling panels tilted and set diagonally into a room, or large atriums cut into the existing architecture.

At times, we may need to rethink our ingrained aesthetics and ask whether materials with a problematic reputation - such as fibre cement panels (Eternit) - can still be used, or whether cut edges might be left uncovered. With time as a fourth dimension, building becomes a dialogue between past, present, and future. The projects in this issue that work with and on existing structures cast a special light on this theme.