Chapter 1 – Introduction

AIM: To contribute to the broader goal of ensuring that historic buildings retain their historical and
cultural value while being adaptively reused to meet contemporary needs.

Objectives:
1. Retaining Architectural Integrity.
2. Conservation of Cultural Heritage.
3. Preventing Deterioration and Decay.
4. Promoting Adaptive Management.

ABSTRACT
Heritage buildings and cities provide us with strong visual documents pertaining to regional history
and form, comprising the basis of local culture. In the contemporary world scene, the built form
cultural heritage seems to be generally ignored into oblivion. This thesis articulates the process of
transformation as the vehicle for adaptive reuse of heritage buildings in our contemporary
condition. It includes the investigation of events, theories, and methods of transformation in the
context of Indian Heritage. The built heritage conservation is one of the major concerns of modern
society. To save heritage buildings, the most common practice consists of the rehabilitation of the
building by introducing a new use. This was an important first inspiration to discover why it is
important to save built heritages and how they survive when they do not serve their original use
anymore. Transformation is the process of rehabilitation of any old building. Thus, interest was
sparked to study the transformation of heritage buildings while they are still surviving with new
building practices and serving new functions successfully within an old shell.
In this research, the intention is to study the transformation of heritage and historic buildings with
respect to their conservation, restoration, and preservation. The transformation of historic
structures can include new functions and their impacts on form. This research includes the study of
the guiding principles/resources of transformation of built heritage in different culturally diverse
situations, with respect to need of the contemporary condition. The study first investigates the
importance of saving the built heritage and understanding why the transformation of existing
historic structures play an important role in preserving the built form as a living artefact over a long
period of time, thus serving as the content for cultural identity.
Keywords
Heritage buildings: Heritage buildings are defined as those antique architectural buildings which
have stood the test of time, notwithstanding calamities and narrating the tale of that metropolis'
architectural facts, histories, and wonderful past. Heritage buildings are forever charming and hold
several vital clues towards understanding the past.
Contemporary: Contemporaries are the people and things from the same time period.
Contemporary can also describe things happening now or recently.
Adaptive reuse: Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose
other than which it was originally built or designed for.
Heritage conservation: It involves the active management and preservation of cultural and natural
heritage, including buildings, landscapes, artifacts, and intangible traditions, to retain their cultural,
historical, and environmental value for future generations.
Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation is the process of restoring and revitalizing something that has been
damaged or deteriorated, particularly in the context of heritage conservation.
Restoration: Restoration is the act of returning something to its original or intended state,
particularly in the context of heritage conservation.

Research approach
The Indian subcontinent has developed as a multicultural land owing to the multiplicity of native
and foreign rulers that ruled the country. This cultural vastness is tangibly represented in the form
of its architecture. The construction of religious, residential, administrative, and commercial spaces
displays a myriad of design elements and techniques. Such vivid nature of architecture in India
makes the country heritage-rich. These heritage buildings stand as a legacy of the fortunate past
times and inspire future designs. They stand as a testament to the lifestyle, economic status,
society, climate, and its impact on architecture. Hence, the preservation and conservation of these
heritage structures are vital to maintaining the authenticity of India’s multicultural image in
essence.
Conservation principles and methods consist of guidelines on how to transform old buildings and
theories of modern conservation that have an impact in formulating the concept of transformation,
either as rehabilitation or as an addition to any heritage or historic building
The first intention of the study is to establish the importance of the transformation of architecture.
Consequently, as explained in Aldo Rossi’s book, The Architecture of the City, the concept of
permanence represents architecture as a living phenomenon and a process of creating history over
a period of time through transformation. The transformation of historic structures is the course
which keeps buildings alive, instead of becoming a dead memory from the past.
Methodology
1.Literature Review: Transformation is a major process to add permanency to urban artefacts,
including built structures. To explore this study on the permanency of built structures and
transformation, research is conducted on the concept of the permanency of urban artefacts, based
on Aldo Rossi’s book, The Architecture of the City. Here, Rossi explains how the cities are surviving
generation after generation, with the transformation and the built structures existing as permanent
objects, as their functions have changed over the years, and are adapting to new uses and forms as
part of the history.
2.The Modern Concern about Preserving Built Heritage: The definition of objects and structures of the past
as consisting of heritage, and the policies related to their protection have evolved together with modernity,
thus this is considered to be an essential need and responsibility of modern society. Since the eighteenth
century, the goal of this protection has been defined as the cultural heritage of humanity, and gradually this
has included not only ancient monuments and past work of art, but even entire theories for a variety of new
values generated in recent decades.

3. Impact of Technology: Technology driven societies and industrial development have a great impact on
traditional societies and have developed the idea for the survival of traditions and heritage. Since the
development of industrial society reflected a total rejection of historical references, modern practice in
architecture led to the loss of identity in buildings.