Reynaers Haus Cape Town transforms a historic building at 220 Buitengracht Street into a contemporary architectural showroom for Reynaers Aluminium South Africa. The project carefully balances heritage retention and contemporary architectural intervention, allowing the building’s historical character to remain legible while introducing a clear new architectural layer.

The lower two storeys retain and express the historic fabric of the building, maintaining the scale, proportions and solid façade character typical of the surrounding Bo-Kaap context. These levels anchor the building within the historic streetscape and preserve the architectural language of the original structure. Above this base, the upper levels are distinctly contemporary, articulated through lighter materials, horizontal bands and recessed terraces. This stepped composition reduces the visual impact of the additional floors from the street while clearly distinguishing new from old.  The building responds sensitively to the urban character of Bo-Kaap, where historic houses sit alongside more recent interventions along Buitengracht Street. By maintaining the street edge and carefully modulating height and massing, the design integrates naturally into the evolving city fabric.

Internally, the building is organised around a central green atrium that brings daylight and vegetation deep into the interior, creating a calm spatial focus beneath a sculptural stair. The open layout and clear architectural geometry allow the building to function as an experiential environment where architectural systems can be explored at full scale.  Through the careful layering of historic structure and contemporary architecture, Reynaers Haus demonstrates how heritage buildings can be adapted for new uses while maintaining their presence within Cape Town’s historic urban landscape.