Old yet majestic A study of Adaptive reuse in the case of Opera House, Bengaluru

Abstract

Once a garden city bustling with many heritage structures, Bangalore is now a busy software hub with heritage structures pulled down one by one, losing its threads to past. Of the few heritage structures that remain, the concept of “Adaptive reuse” has been nothing short of a revelation. The term adaptive reuse maybe defined as „a process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for; but when heritage buildings are to be considered adaptive reuse should be a process of preserving and restoring the building with minimal changes and for a use that does not effect the cultural and historical background of the building.‟ This research explores the effectiveness of adaptive reuse in preserving the heritage value of the buildings in Bangalore, considering the case of Samsung Opera House, a century old structure, located at the main junction of Brigade road. The paper will focus on how this structure has been restored and how the building has been repurposed as a showroom. It will also draw similarities and how other heritage buildings in Bangalore have been reused to meet the needs of the current day using few case studies like Cinnamon Boutique. This paper will focus on documenting the heritage building- Opera House and to frame reuse guidelines for similar buildings and also the efforts in doing an adaptive reuse.