Adaptive Reuse: How to Master Historic Townhouse Design
Sep 24
5 min read
Esplendido Townhouse is an approved adaptive reuse project of a historic home composed of two connected houses in central Lequile, near Lecce. The design will fully renovate the building, preserving its original features, including vaulted rooms, uneven masonry, patterned cement-tile floors, timber doors and windows, a courtyard, and the classic roof.
Esplendido Townhouse. Render by Brick Visual
Rather than introducing a new style, the design restores the house’s original layout and adapts it for modern living. The kitchen, dining, and living areas are arranged in a row beneath tall, pointed vaults, with existing arches that offer long views from the street-facing rooms to the courtyard. A tall arched glass opening brings in more daylight and connects the main living spaces directly to the garden.
The materials have been selected to be simple and plain. Lime-based plaster and mineral limewash give the walls and vaults a soft, uneven finish. The genuine patterned tiles are kept as large area rugs in the rooms. Pietra Leccese and other natural stones add texture and a notion of continuity. Timber joinery, dark metal frames, and a deep-green custom kitchen introduce modern elements. These new features are added carefully so the building’s age and character remain visible.
The courtyard and rooftop extend daily activities beyond the stone rooms. On the ground floor, plants help connect the indoors with the outdoors. Upstairs, a stair leads to a roof terrace designed as another living space, with a small pool, shaded seating, a dining area, and plants along the edges. The terrace keeps views of Lequile’s town and church tower. Both the courtyard and roof terrace provide options for shade, fresh air, privacy, and sunlight throughout the day.
This project balances preserving history with creating new, respecting local history while making the home comfortable for today, and mixing handcrafted details with thoughtful,l up-to-date updates. In this project, old and new elements work together rather than compete.
Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Picture by Esplendido Design
In this street of Lequile, a dense, low-rise city in southern Italy, the building sits on an uneven plot, set back from the street, with a stone base, weathered limewash, timber doors, and carved frames at the front. The raised roof, darker and more worn than the lower part, exists as a landmark on an otherwise simple street.
Inside, the building features a series of narrow, tall rooms beneath pointed groin vaults. Survey photos show painted masonry, arched doorways, timber shutters, and several areas with original cement tiles. The floors are especially important: their patterned and floral designs decorate the rooms and help define each space as a separate part of the home.
Although the project is not yet built, its concept is shown in different ways. Survey photos reveal weathering, missing materials, and the size of the spaces. Drawings show the shape of the vaults, ceiling heights, and how people will move through the house. Visualizations convey a sense of the planned atmosphere rather than a finished space. This difference is important because the design retains signs of age in the images while also showing major changes in how the home will be used.
Esplendido Townhouse. Render by Brick Visual Esplendido Townhouse. Render by Brick Visual
The design places the kitchen, dining, and living areas in a row of vaulted rooms. Instead of using the old walls as strict dividers, the plan makes them part of a sequence, with arches framing views through the house. This setup uses the building’s depth to lead the eye from the street-facing rooms to the courtyard and its large arched opening.
The main vaults are about 5 meters high, which is impressive in a small house. The pointed vaults make the ceilings feel lighter and help the rooms seem longer and more connected. In addition, repeating ribs add both structure and rhythm. These, and many other small details, keep these features visible.
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and a dressing room are set around the main hallway and stairs in the center of the house. The stairs lead up to the roof terrace, not to another floor of bedrooms, even though an earlier plan suggested bedrooms upstairs. Keeping everything on one level keeps the living spaces together and makes it easier to move from the indoor rooms to the open roof area.
The way the floor is handled reflects the building's heritage. Decorative cement tiles are kept or added back as insets within larger stone-grey areas. In this way, the floor acts like large rugs rather than covering the whole floor. This lets the bold patterns stand out at doorways, seating areas, and along walkways without crowding the space. It also brings back the look of the earliest floors, where patterned borders gave each vaulted room its own frame.
New feNew features are added so they are easy to notice. Steel-framed arched glass doors open the main living area to the patio. Deep green kitchen cabinets, stone countertops, built-in fireplace pieces, and hanging lights add a modern touch under the tall vaults. The design works best when these new elements stand out from the lime-plastered walls, respecting the old proportions without copying the historic details. Courtyard and Roofscape as Living Infrastructure
Esplendido Townhouse. Render by Brick Visual Esplendido Townhouse. Render by Brick Visual
The current walled garden has citrus trees, rough stone paving, and mature plants, and feels enclosed by the nearby buildings. The new design turns this space into a patio that connects directly to the kitchen and living areas. A tall, arched glass door makes the courtyard the end point of the interior sequence, bringing in more daylight and allowing dining, plants, and informal gatherings to move outside.
Thinking about the roof, the design adds a small pool, a seating area, a dining area, and a bunch of planted edges around the raised part of the building. The terrace connects with its surroundings: chimneys, parapets, utility equipment, and the church tower, making it clear the roof is part of the town, not separate from it.
Together, the patio and roof terrace allow daily life to flow through different outdoor spaces. The courtyard offers easy access to the kitchen, while the roof provides sun, breezes, and views.
In Puglia’s hot, dry climate, outdoor rooms help people spend less time indoors, though their success will depend on good drainage, irrigation, shade, and managing the extra water from the rooftop pool.
Esplendido Townhouse. Drawing by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Drawing by Esplendido Design Esplendido Townhouse. Drawing by Esplendido Design
