Multi-criteria decision making for adaptive reuse of heritage buildings: Aziza Fahmy Palace, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

The process of selecting new uses for heritage buildings needs to consider a number of crucial criteria in order to determine and select the optimum option. The inappropriate selected use of a heritage building can lead to lose its value. This paper aims to introduce an appropriate evaluation tool to support the efficiency in selecting the optimum solution. The integrated multi criteria decision-making tools are used to support decision making in such cases (problems involving multiple criteria). Several MCDM tools have been developed for choosing the optimal probable options. Each tool has its own characteristics in finding the best alternatives. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, (AHP) that was developed by Professor Thomas Saaty in the late 1970s, was the most suitable tool for this study. The software selected and used in this work was Microsoft Excel. Aziza Fahmy Palace was selected as the case study in this paper. There are four suggested alternatives; which are: hotel, museum, office building and mixed uses. Using the application of AHP, the result showed that the best use is mixed uses with the highest value, which is 0.30 (30%), followed in sequential order by museum, office building and hotel.