Adaptive reuse as an approach to sustainability

Abstract

Adaptive reuse of buildings serves well the needs of the local community and leads to sustainable economic, social and environmental development; therefore, it is necessary to search the role that adaptive reuse plays in the sustainability of the heritage buildings. The research problem is represented by a knowledge gap about the impact of the determinants of adaptive reuse and its benefits that leads to the sustainability of the reused buildings. The aim of the research is to build a theoretical framework that helps to determine this impact. The research adopts the descriptive analytical approach to some of global, Arabian and local samples elected on the basis of the difference in the new function compared to the old one, the difference in the benefits of reuse achieved in the samples, the difference in the culture and nature of society in the chosen areas of the projects and the fact that the projects are carefully designed to preserve the originality of the architectural heritage. Finally, the research has reached some conclusions and proposed a number of recommendations based on the results of a practical study aimed at achieving the sustainability of local heritage buildings by reusing them again.