Adaptive Reuse Of Historic Buildings Research Articles

Historical heritage – MultiCriteria Decision Method (H-MCDM) to prioritize intervention strategies for the adaptive reuse of valuable architectural assets

Identifying the most suitable strategy for the adaptive reuse of historic architectural heritage is a complex challenge. This is because each rehabilitation project of an abandoned historic building must not only ensure the simultaneous pursuit of social, cultural and financial goals, but also the transmission of tangible and intangible values to future generations.In this context, the use of multi-criteria approaches helps to synthesise stakeholders' preferences based on multiple and conflicting criteria, with the aim of promoting sustainable solutions for the restoration and valorisation of valuable architectural assets. To this end, we characterise the Historical heritage - MultiCriteria Decision Method (H-MCDM), an analysis and evaluation tool aimed at identifying the best adaptive reuse of historic buildings considering the principles of architectural conservation and both economic and socio-cultural values. It is a model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which employs 7 evaluation indicators, chosen after a critical and interpretative analysis of both the sustainability principles promoted by the United Nations and UNESCO, and the ICOMOS quality principles.The H-MCDM is structured on the following five logical-operational steps: (i) identification of strategies for adaptive reuse of the historic building; (ii) construction of the matrices of the pairwise comparisons of the criteria and estimation of the vector of the weights of the criteria; (iii) construction of the matrices of the pairwise comparisons of the alternatives against each evaluation criterion and estimation of the local scores of the alternatives; (iv) consistency checks of the decision matrices; (v) calculation of the total priority and ranking of the HBU strategies for historic assets.The application to a case study demonstrates that, due to its adaptability and versatility, the H-MCDM can be a valid and consistent decision support in public resource allocation processes for the rehabilitation of architectural heritage.

Adaptive Reuse of Historic Rural School Buildings in Ukraine in the Poltava Region

The actual problem of adaptive reuse of historic buildings of rural schools in Ukraine is discussed in the article using the example of Poltava region. The history of the construction of Zemstvo schools in Ukraine is researched, the historical and cultural value of school buildings is determined, and their current condition is analyzed. Zemstvo schools of the architect O. Slastion in the Ukrainian architectural style have the greatest historical, cultural and social value. Factors affecting the choice of a new function of former school buildings are identified. For the first time, possible approaches to the adaptive reuse of historic rural school buildings are proposed: strategy of memorialization of buildings, strategy of social integration, strategy of active transformation of buildings. Adaptive reuse of historic school buildings is considered as one of the means of ensuring the sustainable development of rural communities.

Tourism-led adaptive reuse of the built vernacular heritage: A critical assessment of the transformation of historic neighbourhoods in Cappadocia, Turkey

ABSTRACT Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, increased tourism in traditional settlements have led to the adaptive reuse of built vernacular heritage to serve the tourism industry. The adaptive reuse of historic buildings is considered a conservation strategy and an alternative to new constructions in historic environments. Nevertheless, the adaptive reuse of built vernacular heritage and its socio-spatial impacts have not yet been sufficiently investigated. To fill the gap, this paper, focuses on Cappadocia, Turkey, where adaptive reuse of individual vernacular houses has recently paved the way for the transformation of an entire neighbourhood, the historic neighbourhood of Kayakapı, into a ‘holiday village.’ This study argues that traditional settlements and communities in Cappadocia have been subjected to ‘gentrification’ and so-called ‘Disneyfication.’ Such historic environments are facing controversial physical interventions, detached from local communities and devoted to a single function, namely tourism, becoming ‘stereotypical and depersonalised.’ The study further argues that the current situation is incompatible with international heritage and conservation policies. Correspondingly, to reveal the potential conflicts, the recent revitalisation project of the historic neighbourhood of Kayakapı in Cappadocia is examined as a case study.

Adaptive reuse and energy transition of built heritage and historic gardens: The sustainable conservation of Casa Jelinek in Trieste (Italy)

In addition to decay, the built heritage is threatened by progressive abandonment for social, economic reasons. Underutilized historic buildings can be revitalized by introducing new functions, to avoid cultural identity loss by demolition. As the growing urgency in climate neutrality, the resilience of existing historic buildings and vegetal elements is critical especially for the energy transition related to the exploitation of renewable energy sources (RES). RES application in architectural heritage is sensitive due to the visual impact of material change and the loss of historic fabric. Thus, the study aims at setting a preliminary framework for the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, meanwhile reactivating historic garden contexts. It showcases the etic conservation and the reuse of a historic landscape architecture, Casa Jelinek in the historic garden of Miramare Castle in Trieste (Italy), balancing comfort needs, energy demand integrated with photovoltaic (PV) systems, and heritage preservation. The adaptive reuse reflects also the interests of the local community through in-depth documentation analyses, contextual simulations, and technical and heritage guidelines, to ensure the longevity of the proposed management.

Analysis of Operational Energy between Adaptive Reuse Historic Buildings (ARHB) and Modern Office Buildings: A Case Study in Sri Lanka

Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings (ARHB) is a new concept in developing countries like Sri Lanka. One of the main concerns for the intendancy of decision makers to ARHB is the operational energy. This paper analyzes the research gap of reusing historical buildings as office spaces by utilizing their structural and architectural designs and preserving the buildings’ authenticity for the future. It further aims to protect energy-efficient historical buildings from getting demolished and replaced with new modern buildings. A set of operational energy variables of modern office buildings and the potential historic buildings that can be reused as office spaces was established. During the early 1990s, old Dutch-era buildings in the country were mainly used as government office buildings. Three Dutch-era buildings in Galle Fort and three modern buildings in Colombo City have been selected as the case studies. Design-Builder (DB) software was used to comprehensively analyze sets of operational energy consumption variables. Selected historic buildings in Galle consumed 143.74 kWh/m2, 156.34 kWh/m2, and 209.39 kWh/m2 while modern buildings consumed 337.29 kWh/m2, 210.99 kWh/m2, and 382.57 kWh/m2 as operational energy, respectively. According to the analysis, the operational energy requirement of ARHB is comparatively lesser than that of modern buildings. This study, therefore, mainly concludes that the historical buildings saved more operational energy than the modern building envelopes while considerably reducing environmental impacts and saving the building energy cost.

A Grammar-Based Approach for Generating Spatial Layout Solutions for the Adaptive Reuse of Sobrado Buildings

This research develops a shape grammar to generate solutions for the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. More precisely, it proposes a transformation grammar for sobrado buildings, a typology present in the historic center of São Luís, Brazil. The methodology defines a workflow for adapting sobrado buildings, once characterized for single-families, into multi-family apartments considering spatial and structural requirements. The grammar specifies a framework for repurposing historic buildings into social housing and considers the allocation of three types of apartments in the floor plan: studios, one-bedroom apartments, and two-bedroom apartments. The adopted strategy for spatial planning prioritizes access to natural daylight. The grammar supports different layout solutions for the same building and aims to accelerate the reuse of historic structures for contemporary housing needs. This paper describes the grammar rules and their application to three case study buildings.

ADAPTIVE REUSE OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS FOR CONSERVATION, RESTORATION AND TOURISM PROMOTION: A CASE STUDY OF THE SETHI HAVELI COMPLEXES IN PESHAWAR

The historic buildings of a region are important cultural heritage for its future generations. At some places such buildings might be unable to serve their actual purposes for which they have been erected, due to various reasons such as bad state of preservation, illegal occupation, encroachment, and abandonment. In such cases, the concept of using the adaptive reuse can well protect them as cultural heritage. The adaptive reuse of historic buildings has become an approach worldwide, which extends its lifespan. At the same time, the reuse of such buildings will decrease further use of material for fresh and new construction, avoid unnecessary transportation, wastage of energy and resource and control air pollution for sustainable environment. The Sethi haveli complexes in Peshawar city is portraying the traditional style of domestic architecture of the elite trading community in the region, exhibiting the local taste in combination with central Asian. Built in the 18th /19th century, these haveli complexes are in deteriorating conditions that need to be preserved and reused. Further, recreational values should be generated by adaptive reuse, including self-growth, health benefits and social benefits. As the creation of activities is a big attraction for tourists in the field of heritage reuse, the natural environment can be used to organise and design heritage indoor/outdoor events. As observed with the evaluated Sethi haveli complexes, historic buildings that are re-functioned with the public use, for example cultural, educational, commercial and use, are more productive in contributing to the social development of the walled city of Peshawar. The adaptive reuse of abandoned Sethi haveli complexes in the walled city of Peshawar will subsidise the sustainability and liveability of the city. For the continuity of the historic buildings, social aspect should be deliberated with all-encompassing approach. Keywords: Historic buildings, adaptive re-use, the Sethi haveli Complexes, social aspect.

Historic Conservation and Tourism Economy: Challenges Facing Adaptive Reuse of Historic Conservation Areas in Chengdu, China

With continuous developments in the integration of culture and tourism, adaptive reuse has highlighted the vitality of historic conservation areas while simultaneously causing great challenges to urban life, local economy, and cultural sustainability. Current studies focus on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, with little focus on historic conservation areas. To expand this understanding further, this study investigated and analyzed the challenges faced by Chengdu historic conservation areas in the context of adapting to the tourism environment, from multiple perspectives, and proposed corresponding protection and development strategies. The results of the study obtained using field investigation and semi-structured interviews contribute to the literature on the adaptive reuse of historic conservation areas; they deepen our understanding of the identified factors and provide in-depth knowledge. These findings provide a reference for future practices and promote the sustainable development of historic conservation areas for improved conservation and economic returns.

Thermal comfort assessment of stone historic religious buildings in a hot and humid climate during cooling season. A case study

The adaptive reuse of historic buildings, as well as the maintenance of their optimal indoor environments for structural and collections preservation, are inherently complex, multifaceted goals. Moreover, indoor environments do not only affect collections and building—the occupants’ satisfaction must also be considered. In this study, a field investigation of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) particularly focused on thermal comfort following a Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) process applied to a case study where a combination of microclimate monitoring and questionnaire surveys were carried out during the problematic cooling season in the hot and humid climate of San Antonio, Texas (USA). Mission Concepción de Acuña (part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a unique historic settlement that includes a limestone church which reflects a similar typology to multiple religious buildings distributed across the southwestern USA. Results of these investigations show that: i) the current indoor environment did not always achieve occupants’ thermal satisfaction, displaying thermal discomfort when the indoor/outdoor thermal leap is larger (August and September); ii) Thermal Sensation Vote (TSV) Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) values were considerably different throughout the monitoring period, with TSV mostly included within the (−1, 0, +1) band and PMV mainly within the (−2, −3) band; iii) impact of occupant age, gender and clothing on TSV values is limited. Finally, outcomes of this article underline the limitations of Fanger’s model when applied to such typology of buildings, highlighting the necessity for more investigation in this topic.

Attachment and Associational Dimensions in the Architecture of Historical Building Conversion in Thailand Between 1997 and 2012

The research on The Initial Survey of Evolution of Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings in Thailand is aimed at constructing knowledge for the module named Reuse and Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings. This module is part of the curriculum of Bachelor of Architecture, which studies the role of architecture fabricated within historical buildings. In the era between 1997 and 2012 in Thailand, there was a notable transformation from conservation to contemporary conversion. A review of conservation perspectives indicates a combined multi-disciplinary cooperation between architectural design and conservation. To establish issues regarding the knowledge of conversion, a research question is raised: how do architectural elements play its role through changing of use? Aimed at understanding the complexity among conversion ideologies, issues surrounding architectural elements of historical buildings are rationally explored. Based on significant conversion projects from 1996 to 2012, architectural elements were referenced as to how concepts and objectives were associated. Qualitative research was conducted through a study of primary sources; survey and classification of representative samples, and secondary documents, records and architectural drawings. The controlling significance of the buildings led to a discussion and an analysis of the architectural designs through new additions and amendments made on the historical fabric. Included in this discussion are the principles of conversion as they relate to the architecture of historic buildings and the ideology of the modification. It is found that understanding a change to architectural elements through an ontological perspective, that of attachment and associational approaches, could clearly reveal the construction programme that felicitates the historical building for which conservation or adaptation is determined. A dialogue on relevant contexts surrounding amendments of architectural elements demonstrated that a strong emphasis towards particular objectives of use could coincidentally harm the historical building’s architectural dimension framework. This leads to the notion that architecture for adaptive reuse should include knowledge of the original construction, a balance among conditions of the existing building, its programming and further habitation.

Sustainable Viability for Restoration and Adaptive Reuse of Sikh Era Havelis in Lahore, Pakistan

This research is concept based investigation of assessing the practical viability in terms of sustainability, for restoration and adaptive reuse of Sikh Era historic Havelis in Lahore. The timeless history, architecture and unique features of interior built environment of Sikh Era havelis are considered to be as an ideal aspiration for conservation and adaptive reuse in the recent times. History reveals that there are several examples of reused historic buildings that illustrate the practicality of the concept in terms of sustainability; economic impact, vitality of social life, and usability of existing urban resources including energy saving. A heritage survey of Sikh Havelis in Lahore, expert interviews and a review of literature concerning adaptive reuse of historic buildings is used as a tool of conducting qualitative and comparative research. The research recommends key implications for local governments in Lahore and eventually provide a theoretical research framework that can be incorporated in the decision-making processes for adaptive reuse projects. The expert opinion directs that adaptive reuse is important for quality enhancement, practicing sustainability principles, renew the old resource with future demands. The experts were agreed that adaptive reuse increases the age of building, provides safe and healthy environment and feasibility stage of adaptive reuse give direction to decision process.

Restoration of a Historic Building in Order to Improve Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving—Case Study—The Dining Room within the Žiča Monastery Property

A proper systematic approach to the restoration of historic buildings is crucial in the preservation of heritage buildings. This paper presents the unity between the restoration of a historic building and sustainability. The aim of the research is to establish an effective method for the restoration of historic buildings and their reuse and sustainable renovation in terms of energy efficiency, in accordance with modern needs and conservation requirements while maintaining the authentic appearance. The main method in the paper is the observation of a historic building during its restoration and exploitation, analysis and evaluation of the results achieved in improving energy efficiency and energy saving in the example of the building within the Žica Monastery in Serbia, a cultural monument of exceptional importance. The subject of the research is the Dining Room within the Žiča Monastery and the analysis of the restoration results in order to ensure energy refurbishment and cultural heritage enhancement. The research findings are recommendations for the restoration and adaptive re-use of historic buildings, in accordance with modern requirements for comfort and environmental protection. The greatest contribution of this paper is the practical verification of energy refurbishment of the restored historic building, the Dining Room, by applying the principles and measures of energy efficiency, maintaining the authentic appearance of the building, in accordance with the conservation requirements.

POST-CONSERVATION EVALUATION (PCE): FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF ADAPTIVE REUSE MUSEUMS IN GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings has become a prominent trend in the scenario of built heritage conservation of Melaka and George Town, UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Malaysia. Such implementation however is questionable since there have been several dilemmas raised in relation to the local museum industry. Among them are stiff competition faced by museums as an attractive cultural product, not appealing to business funders, rarely favoured as a family holiday destination and being perceived as dull and old repositories by the younger generations. As adaptive reuse is known to revive the physical and functional facets of historic building which then contributes to its economic generation, this study attempts to understand the financial impact from such implementations. Post-conservation evaluation (PCE) focusing on financial performance was conducted on adaptive reuse museums in the Core Zone and Buffer Zone of George Town, involving Penang State Museum (PSM), Made in Penang Interactive Museum (MIPIM), Batik Painting Museum (BPM) and Dark Mansion-3D Glow in the Dark Museum (DM) which were shortlisted trough purposive sampling. Key informants’ survey was then carried by engaging key person identified to be resourceful and knowledgeable with the respective museums’ financial background and history. It is found that the adaptive reuse museums have yet to gain a stable return of investment, due to low-income generation from their ticketing sales in relation to higher operational and maintenance costs they require. By conducting PCE on the financial performance of adaptive reuse buildings that are of cultural and historical values, conservation stakeholders may be furnished with better information that aids better decisionmaking in the future.

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings: connecting the links between tourist appreciation and visitation

PurposeThis article aims to illustrate the influence of the adaptive reuse of historic buildings on tourists’ appreciation and actual visitation.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed the perception of tourists on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings activity in Kuching city, Malaysia, via the causal research design and self-administered questionnaire. Two hundred forty-two respondents participated in this survey.FindingsThis study found that the tourists highly acknowledged the practices of adaptive reuse of the historic buildings. Their positive behaviour is evident when most of the tourists perceived the adaptive reuse of the historic buildings influence their level of appreciation and subsequently translated it into their actual visitation.Practical implicationsBased on these findings, this study proposes that the adaptive reuse of historic buildings be marketed as a heritage tourism product. This promising indication from the tourists will undoubtedly draw several practical implications to the local authority policy on the practices of historic buildings adaptive reuse and how it benefits the heritage tourism development.Originality/valueThis study confirms that adaptive reuse is an excellent initiative as it is not only preserving the historical treasures for future generations but is a catalyst for tourism development and helps to generate income for the community.

Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings to Promote Social Values: The Case Study of Bagamoyo District in Tanzania

Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings to Promote Social Values: The Case Study of Bagamoyo District in Tanzania

Evaluating the adaptive reuse of historic buildings through multicriteria decision-making

Reusing historic buildings requires solving complex decision-making problems that involve the tangible and intangible values of numerous interest groups. In this study, the integrated multicriteria decision-making method was employed to optimise the assessment process of historic building reuse. The Sun Yat-Sen Historical Museum was selected as the case study in this study. By using a literature review, case analysis, and the fuzzy Delphi method, a decision-making model was established. Subsequently, the priority order of the reuse alternatives of the historic building was determined through an analytic network process. The results revealed that the most suitable reuse alternative of the museum was for community activities, followed in sequential order by commercial, education and exhibition, and composite use. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of criteria of various “orientations,” which revealed that when the weights of economics-oriented criteria decreased or those of society and nature-oriented criteria increased, commercial use might become the optimal reuse alternative. However, when the weights of the economy and history-oriented criteria increased, the priority of community activities rose. Therefore, changes in economic, social, and natural factors directly influenced the priority order of the historic building reuse alternatives. Accordingly, we suggest that decision-making units focus on providing facilities that satisfy the requirements of the neighbourhood surrounding the museum. Examples include the building of facilities that are nonprofit or directly managed by the local government such as libraries, community activity centres, and nurseries. The possibility of transitioning the historic building to commercial use should be maintained through future space usage planning to adapt to possible changes in the urban environment.

Adaptive reuse: an innovative approach for generating sustainable values for historic buildings in developing countries

Abstract Sustainable development has become a goal for all countries seeking a balance between social, environmen­tal and economic needs. The principal vision of a sustain­able built future is about developing creative designs that utilize energy and materials effectively. However, this vision should consider historic buildings that were built centuries ago. Although many of these buildings are standing in a stable state, they are obsolete and their values are not fully utilized. Towards revitalizing and generating sustainable values of these buildings, adaptive reuse is adopted as a process of modifying, adapting and reusing obsolete build­ings with their existing structures to extend their life cycle whilst performing a new function. This is currently practiced worldwide, specifically when a building has a unique archi­tectural character and is in a stable condition. The adaptive reuse of a historic building should have minimal impact on the heritage significance of the building and its setting. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of adaptive reuse as an innovative approach for generating sustainable values of historic buildings in developing countries. To achieve this aim, a research strategy is designed to accomplish four objectives: first, literature related to sustainable develop­ment, sustainable values, adaptive reuse and developing countries is reviewed; second, two case studies are pre­sented and analysed to investigate the role of adaptive reuse towards increasing the sustainable value of heritage build­ings; third, a strategy with its action plan is developed for facilitating adaptive reuse of historic buildings in develop­ing countries and finally, research conclusions are outlined and recommendations useful to professionals concerned with adaptive reuse of historic buildings are proposed.

Assessing visitors' thermal comfort in historic museum buildings: Results from a Post-Occupancy Evaluation on a case study

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings as museums is an effective strategy for retaining heritage architectures while achieving environmental sustainability objectives. Building adaptation, retrofitting and preserving optimal environments for artwork and exhibit preservation are inherently complex, multifaceted tasks. However, indoor microclimates do not only affect collections; occupants and visitors must also be considered. The aim of this research is to explore whether artwork preservation constraints in reused historic building affect patrons. The authors thereby promote a more comprehensive approach, combining the objectives of exhibit conservation, preservation of heritage buildings and adequate indoor conditions, particularly thermal comfort. Data was gathered using the Post-Occupancy Evaluation process applied to a case study where a combination of microclimate monitoring and questionnaire surveys was carried out over a 12-month period. Results demonstrate that: i) the existing microclimate did not always provide visitors with adequate thermal conditions, showing dissatisfaction during the cooling season (July–September), with average TSV values ranging from −1.03 to −1.13; ii) TSV and PMV values were significantly divergent throughout the year, with TSV mainly included within the (−1, 0, +1) band and PMV mainly within the (0, −2) band; and iii) questionnaires show that visitor choice of clothing is made according to outdoor conditions, with some gender-related variations in the clo level (higher for women), not ensuring thermal comfort inside the museum during the warm season. Results of this research highlight the limitations of Fanger's model when applied to such typology of buildings, emphasising the need for more research in this field.

Evaluating the adaptive reuse potential of buildings in conservation areas

PurposeAdaptive reuse of building assets is an important approach to sustainability. Adapting a building for new uses often involves complex factors in the decision-making process, particularly in conservation areas. The paper aims to show an evaluation process of the adaptive reuse potential of historic buildings that are subject to change in the Grand Canal area, a world heritage site in Hangzhou, China.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a model has been established with aggregated views of professionals on the degree to which a variety of factors affect the buildings’ potential for adaptive reuse. The model intends to help prioritise some of the buildings in the area for adaptive reuse, which is important for effective allocation of public resources. Interviews with professionals, analytic hierarchy process and the Delphi method have been used to establish the evaluation model. It is then applied to the Grand Canal area to generate indices for buildings’ adaptive reuse potential and the ranking of priority. The indices are generated through public scoring of historic buildings against the variables and calculated through the model.FindingsThe paper concludes that the evaluation process is an effective way to engage the public in the decision-making process and to balance conflict interests of various stakeholders in the management of historic building assets in conservation areas.Originality/valueThe research has proposed an evaluation model to help set priority of buildings subject to adaptive reuse and to help distribute public fund effectively. It facilitates wide public engagement in the decision-making progress of adaptive reuse of historic buildings.

Adaptive Re-Use Principles in Historic Hotel Buildings in Melaka And George Town

Adaptive re-use of historic buildings is a process of changing the original function of the historic buildings to another function that can optimise the use of existing historic buildings. The selection of appropriate new function is an important factor in determining the success of adaptive re-use of historic buildings. However, adaptive re-use work done on historic buildings on the World Heritage Site is not an easy task due to rules and principles outlined by local and international charters that must be abide by. This research is conducted to gather the true picture of applied adaptive re-use principles that has been done on heritage hotels available in Melaka and George Town World Heritage Sites. This research is started with an inventory that led to the discovery of 35 hotels which applied the principle of adaptive re-use of historic buildings. Based on this finding, 4 historic hotels from adaptive re-use applications have been selected as the case studies. Results of the case studies carried out show that the level of conservation of heritage hotel is moderate and measures of control should be taken to ensure the privileges of heritage hotel. As a result of this research, a number of suggestions are made to ensure that adaptive re-use work done in the future will be conducted as optimum as possible according to the adaptive re-use and conservation principles.