Header: Kimpton Santo / Photo credit: Mike Schwartz
Starting from scratch is more convenient, but it is not always more interesting. In two BLT Built Design Awards winners, the strongest part of the interior was already there: sandstone walls in a 1940s Sydney home and a historic German-English school in San Antonio. Instead of smoothing those histories away, both projects kept them visible and built around them.
Seven Days | ANNA.CARIN | Northbridge, NSW, Australia
Seven Days began with the lower ground floor of a 1940s post-war home in Northbridge, where ANNA.CARIN had to modernise a space with limited light without losing the character that was already there. The existing sandstone walls were kept and paired with terrazzo floors, opaque glass bricks and timber panelling.
The result is not a restoration exercise. Function and light were improved, new materials were added and local craftspeople helped shape the details, but the old sandstone still does some of the visual work. Preservation here is practical: keep the character, fix the room.
Kimpton Santo | KTGY | San Antonio, Texas
At Kimpton Santo, the scale is larger but the idea is similar. KTGY’s Bauhaus-influenced interiors preserve and reuse a historic German-English school as part of a contemporary hotel with original architecture remaining visible in the suites, restaurant and bar.
Exposed rafters and sections of old brick wall sit beside a cleaner modern interior, while the historic suites retain original details and finishes drawn from local craft. In the new-build tower, carpets reference local textiles and flooring picks up the character of the site’s stone. The old building is not used as a decorative theme; it remains part of the guest experience.
New does not have to mean blank
Both projects feel contemporary not because of how much they removed, but because of how confidently they kept the right things. That kind of thinking is also what the BLT Built Design Awards are looking to recognise: projects with a clear idea, a strong response to context and something worth sharing beyond the finished photographs. Winning brings international recognition, media exposure and a permanent place on the BLT Built Design Awards winners platform.
The 2026 BLT Built Design Awards are open for entries across Architectural Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Construction Product Design. Submit your project before October 4.
