Adaptation of State listed monuments

Abstract

The topic of the research is the added value of the architect in adaptation-projects of State listed monuments. An adaptation-project is a construction project in which the function of the building changes. The research focussed on State listed monuments. These buildings are of national importance and therefore law protects them. This results in a more complex process due to the involvement of several additional actors. Despite the increasing complexity, a lack of knowledge was detected about the roles, besides designing, which the architect should perform in current adaptation-projects of monuments in the Netherlands. The research tried to reduce this lack of knowledge by answering the following question: What are the roles of an architect in an (contemporary) adaptation-project of a State listed monument, which contribute to enhancing the success rate of the adaptation? By means of a case study method and a focus group method, the research defined different roles besides designing, which are important for the success of the adaptation. For the case study method, five successful adaptation-projects of State listed monuments were studied. With the focus group method, a group-discussion was organized and participants with different perspectives joined the discussion. These methods allowed answering the research question. A scheme is made, which forms the result of the research. In this scheme, the situations are described, which occur in adaptation-projects of monuments and which can lead to fundamental challenges. Different roles are described for an architect in each of these situations. The scheme also describes the importance of the roles for the situations, why the architect should perform the roles, and what the influences in the project are for an architect to be able to perform the roles. Finally, the scheme also describes which knowledge and skills an architect should possess in order to be able to perform the roles. Based on this result, recommendations are written towards (future) adaptation-architects and towards clients and project managers in adaptation-projects of monuments.