Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings as hotels in Melaka and George Town - UNESCO World Heritage Cities

Abstract

The most visible and neglected heritages nowadays are heritage buildings which are widely available throughout the country. As the number of heritage building have been decreasing day by day, peoples' consciousness has begun to arise. Many heritage buildings have been conserved for various purposes. In general, with their attractive features, most conserved heritage buildings will be adaptive reused as museums, offices, restaurants, residences, business premises and other public use thus becoming one the focal of tourists' attractions. However, the approach in adapting and conserving heritage buildings in Malaysia are not practiced with the right concepts and methods. This research is conducted to assess the adaptive reuse works that have been implemented on the heritage buildings as hotels specifically in Melaka and George Town UNESCO World Heritage Cities. The hotels which are adapted from heritage buildings have been specifically identified and questionnaires surveys have been performed to the respective owners or managers in order to obtain their responses thus arriving to a more accurate research result. Several findings have been obtained which will help in promoting adaptive reuse works in the future.