Redesign Strategies: Framing how to redesign built heritage in Asia

Redesign strategies are the actions taken to redesign a building, in order to secure it is kept in performance and/or use. One redesign comprises a combination of redesign strategies. These strategies can be key to buildings; just as, medical treatments can be key to our health. Without redesign, buildings are doomed to ruin. With redesign, and unlike us, buildings can last forever. Redesign can ensure a city keeps evolving over time, ever more sustainable, resilient, safe and accessible.

Over the last centuries the redesign of buildings has evolved in categories, combinations of redesign strategies, and ranking. Often, new redesign categories are defined to promote the “best practices” of redesign, what can or not be done, in contrast to other categories of redesigns, downgraded to “bad practices”. Since the 20th century, authorities and experts worldwide have jointly created international doctrinal documents to guide the redesigns of built heritage. While in the past, redesign strategies were like a doctrine or religion; today, there is greater openness to match the redesign strategies to the specific building, influenced by its condition, cultural significance and reuse program.

Research dedicated to cultural heritage, and built heritage in particular, contributed greatly to the development of redesign strategies and technology independently. Tendentiously, newer concepts are created and older concepts are left behind. Seldom research brought them together to compare the differences and systematically define the relation between them.

This research aims to define a theoretical framework that can enables the identification and comparison of different categories of redesign, and respective redesign strategies, based on international doctrinal documents and publications. The case study of the international competition of National Gallery Singapore (2007-2015) was selected to test the theoretical framework, given the possibility to compare different redesign categories proposed to redesign built heritage in Asia, created by design teams of diverse cultural backgrounds. The participating design teams will be invited to fill in an online survey, and retrospectively self-categorize their redesign proposals and respective strategies.

This research contributes to further the current knowledge on redesign and related redesign strategies, as well as, the relation between them. The application of the theoretical framework enables trends in redesign categories, combinations of strategies and rankings over time and place to be revealed and discussed. A step forward towards a more common ontology among academics, government officers, architects and engineers. A step forward in charting the diversity of redesigns and combination of strategies, interlinking “good” and “bad” practices. The more aware of redesign strategies, the greater the evolution of cities.