Design based research for valuable programs in the process of adaptive reuse

Abstract

Historical buildings define the view and character of villages and cities, but some lose their function because of social, economic, politic or religious changes. Without a suitable use, it is difficult for owners to conserve their property. Adaptive reuse has proven to be a useful solution. However, the research and practise to fitting new programs in existing (historical) buildings is rather complex. Not every heritage site can be transformed into a museum, hotel or concert hall as lever for economic or touristic regeneration. To find suitable programs we need to understand current contextual demographic, ecological, economical and technological transformations. Different interpretations of one situation are possible. But a lot of this knowledge is not pre-structured and asks careful moves towards a problem definition. Architects and designers can play a role in analysing transformations of the building and its context and in establishing suitable programmes. Their scenarios and visualizations can open up a debate with all stakeholders. This paper considers the role of education in this process by focussing on the design studio of the Master students in Interior Architecture as a laboratory for developing programs. We organised a design assignment of 12-week on the reuse of a monastery, for which students had to develop a master plan. External experts and various stakeholders were involved throughout the process.