November’s AJ is devoted to retrofit, and demonstrates a growing commitment to work positively with the buildings that are already around us. We present four building appraisals, including Caruso St John and Bovenbouw Architecture’s rework of a 1960s Belgian insurance HQ.

Back in the UK, we discover how [Y/N] Studio has repaired and extended a terrace of workspaces Hackney; visit TDO Architecture’s courtyard development that employs reuse and retrofit alongside new build to realise office spaces for the post-Covid era; and see how Hugh Broughton Architects converted a derelict church into a community and business incubator hub.

In news, you can read a review of Thomas Heatherwick’s Modernism-bashing book Humanise (cartoonist Hellman also presents his take), and we explore how Canary Wharf is evolving away from the corporate monoculture of its 1980s birth and being reinvigorated by retrofit.

Also in the issue are opinion pieces by Toko Andrews and Anna Beckett; David Grandorge on Lacaton & Vassal in Culture; the competitions roundup; and this month’s sketches are by Diana Chirescu.