Warehouses
Long clear spans and loading bays that translate naturally into open-plan offices, studios or markets, once daylight and insulation are addressed.
Adaptive reuse studio, Gdynia
Old buildings hold their own kind of intelligence. We help it keep working.
Kubika works with warehouses, factories, granaries and other structures that have outlived their original purpose. Instead of clearing the site, we study what is already there and design around it, so the brick, the steel trusses and the worn floors continue to carry meaning inside a building that functions for today.
Warehouse conversion·
Facade restoration·
Structural adaptive reuse·
Heritage liaison·
Material recovery·
Daylight strategy·
Warehouse conversion·
Facade restoration·
Structural adaptive reuse·
Heritage liaison·
Material recovery·
Daylight strategy·
What we do
Services shaped around what a building already gives you
Every old structure arrives with its own set of constraints and gifts. These six areas of work cover the full arc from first walkthrough to finished space, though most projects only need a few of them at a time.
Before any design decision, we spend time inside the building. We document original structure, note where past renovations covered something worth uncovering, and check what protections or listings apply. This stage tells you honestly whether a conversion is workable and what it will realistically involve.
Working alongside structural engineers, we test how existing load paths, trusses and floor plates can support a new program without stripping their character. Where reinforcement is needed, we look for solutions that stay visually honest about what is old and what has been added.
Deep factory floors and long warehouse bays don't naturally divide into offices, homes or studios. We plan layouts that respect the rhythm of existing columns and windows, working with daylight and circulation rather than against the shape the building already has.
Timber beams, brick, cast iron fittings and old signage often have more life left in them than people expect. We assess what can be cleaned, repaired or repositioned within the new design, and coordinate with tradespeople who specialise in that kind of careful, slower work.
Buildings with heritage value or municipal significance usually involve conversation with conservation offices and local authorities. We prepare documentation, attend consultations, and help translate technical requirements into a design brief that keeps the project moving forward.
Old buildings reveal surprises once work begins: a hidden chimney flue, a floor slab thinner than the drawings suggested. We stay on site through construction so decisions can be made quickly and the original design intent holds up under real conditions.
Building types
Structures we've come to understand well
Scroll across to see the categories of buildings that make up most of our commissions. Each type carries its own structural habits and its own kind of stubbornness.
Factories & Mills
Sawtooth roofs and cast iron columns bring a distinctive rhythm to workshops, creative studios and mixed-use halls.
Granaries & Silos
Thick masonry walls and unusual vertical proportions make these some of the most rewarding, if demanding, conversions we take on.
Power Stations
Turbine halls and switchgear rooms often hold generous ceiling heights well suited to cultural or civic reuse.
Rail Depots
Repetitive bays and pitched roof structures adapt well to co-working, light manufacturing or community use.
Breweries & Distilleries
Vaulted cellars and copper-era infrastructure add texture that few new buildings can replicate.
Why adaptive reuse
A building that already exists is already halfway to being useful
Demolition erases decades of embedded material and labour in a single afternoon. Adaptive reuse takes longer to plan and often longer to build, but it keeps a structure's history legible while giving it a working future. For cities with a strong industrial past, that history is part of what makes a neighbourhood feel like somewhere rather than anywhere.
We treat the existing building as the first collaborator on any project. Its column grid, its window rhythm, its scars from earlier uses all inform decisions before a single new wall is drawn.
Learn who we work with
From the studio
Notes on reading and reusing old buildings
Short pieces from our team on the practical questions that come up again and again during adaptive reuse work.
Materials
What Happens to the Materials We Remove
A look at how brick, timber and iron fittings get sorted, cleaned and reintroduced into the same building rather than sent to landfill.
Design
Daylight Strategies for Deep Factory Floors
Why the distance between windows matters more than window size when planning usable, comfortable interior space.
Process
Reading a Building Before You Touch It
The questions we ask during a first site visit, and why patience at this stage saves time later in the project.