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Adaptive Reuse in Architecture — The art of repurposing heritage
The trend which has brought back many forts, palaces, old Havelis in India to become hotels, museums, and restaurants.
Have you ever wonder what it would be like to live in the taj mahal. Well, it might not be a distant dream! Over the last three decades India has steadily seen heritage buildings upcycled into beautiful hotels, restaurants, or museums. Neemrana hotel company one of the leading hospitality brands in India, started in 1991 working on this sustainable approach and has restored more than 40 heritage buildings.
These heritage buildings are brought back to life through adaptive reuse. This process focuses on adapting a building’s heritage in modern contexts. Not only adaptive reuse much cheaper than the costs of new construction, but property owners can also see returns on adaptive reuse projects that much greater than the cost of design and construction. Adaptive reuse preserves buildings’ heritage and also develops them in a way that is more relevant and usable for people in the present time. It may involve the conversion of a warehouse into art galleries, a factory into offices, an old church into a restaurant, or palaces into museums.
Adaptive reuse became popular after the industrial revolution which left many old buildings with heavy ornamentations in ruins. Architects like Philip Johnson studied the scope of historic architecture and started working towards the preservation and conservation of such structures. And then In the 1960s, a movement started in America to legally protect historic buildings, which was slowly adopted around the world. Haveli Dharampura and Calcutta bungalow are some of the few prominent projects of adaptive reuse in India.
Adaptive reuse of old buildings is not a new trend in India. India has a dynamic history of rulers, and buildings were destroyed in the war and then restored after each war. Sometimes the purpose of a building shifts from a Haveli to an administrative building.
