Seven sensitive interventions to ancient structures and historic ruins

Dezeen's latest roundup highlights seven architecturally sensitive additions to historic sites worldwide. At Clifford's Tower in York, UK, Hugh Broughton Architects inserted a freestanding timber structure with a viewpoint and suspended walkways inside the 800-year-old ruin. In Rome, Stefano Boeri Interiors replaced the cobbled piazza outside the Colosseum with travertine slabs and 44 stone benches positioned to recall the original columns from AD 80. In Iceland, Sp(r)int Studio restored and extended a 1950s timber shelter over the Viking ruins at Stöng, reinforcing it with galvanised steel frames and adding larch slats and polycarbonate panels. The Zhang Yan Cultural Museum in suburban Shanghai by Shenzhen Horizontal Design incorporates a white concrete structure within the ruins of a late Qing dynasty home. Behind the Pantheon in Rome, STARTT opened a previously inaccessible archaeological site with a route of steel and stone additions including a lift and toilets. On Turkey's Gallipoli Peninsula, KOOP Architects revamped the 17th-century Seddülbahir Fortress with enclosed and open-air exhibition spaces, using timber slats to outline the fortress's former silhouette. In Slovenia, Medprostor installed an operable folding roof of black steel, blackened wood, and dark slate over the 900-year-old Žiče Charterhouse church.