Continuity and change have become crucial themes for the built environment and heritage buildings; also in the education and practice of architects. Embedding built heritage values into studio-based design education is a daunting new challenge that demands new didactic perspectives and tools. To address the dilemmas that come with design assignments for adaptive reuse, an experiment with new didactic analytical tools has been conducted in the Heritage & Architecture (H&A) architectural design studios at the Delft University of Technology. The analysis attempts to connect matter—physical structures—and meaning in a structured graphical process through predefined mapping exercises. Our aim is to introduce a step-by-step method for exploration that can form the foundation of values-based design from built heritage. Central to our multifaceted approach is a specially developed matrix that is meant to support design-oriented analysis of heritage buildings. This paper situates the H&A perspective on the adaptive reuse of valorised buildings within the heritage discourse and architectural design education in general and further gives insight into the didactics, the tools, their uses and initial results. After a critical reflection on our points of departure, based in an evaluation of results, peer discussion and student evaluation, we conclude that the applied methodology is instructive to the educational goals but also merits further development. One of the lessons learnt for future teaching includes allowing students freedom to discover values themselves. An important conclusion is that an earlier and broader foundation that engages the continuation of tangible and intangible heritage values in the ever-changing built environment is required in architectural educational practice. ... Read more

The collaboration between KIT and TU Delft started out with the central theme of machiya, a traditional type of wooden townhouse, known in Kyoto as kyomachiya. Rather than Kyoto’s pre-eminent monuments like shrines, temples or one of the 17 world heritage sites, the vernacular architecture of the kyomachia seemed to be the ideal study subject, addressing conservation issues and the need for adaptation to both contemporary demands and new uses. With over 40,000 machiya still in existence, this building type is very characteristic of the cultural landscape of Kyoto. Machiya, built on narrow parcels and recognizable by their closed street facades (omoté), originally combined a residential function with a commercial one. ... Read more

Preservation through development is advocated by Dutch heritage policy makers for about 2 decades now and it seems to be a useful strategy in reintegrating abandoned modern industrial areas in the city fabric. Daily practice has shown that it is very difficult to do so, because every actor and stakeholder in the process still tends to act from his traditional and narrow perspective. In many cases this frustrates the process and leads to unsatisfying results. This paper refers to a study on the transformation of the former industrial area of Oostenburg in Amsterdam executed by a team from TU Delft's section Heritage & Architecture. The study showed that interdisciplinary academic research ranging from the assessment of values of cultural heritage and architectural space cultural values to the development of design scenario's and a cost analysis is the key to discover the full opportunities for redevelopment of industrial areas. Oostenburg, a former VOC-harbour and ship building yard at the north-east of the city centre of Amsterdam, was redeveloped as industrial area during the 20th century. Only one building cluster from the turn of the 20th century was listed as a monument; following a traditional approach of preserving individual objects rather than acknowledging i.e. the context of industrial production processes. The process of redevelopment suddenly came into serious trouble last year when the municipality of Amsterdam started a procedure to list another cluster of buildings designed by the architect G. J. Langhout (1879-1962) in the 1920s-1930s and designated to be demolished in order to realize new dwellings. To help reconcile the contrary viewpoints of the municipality and the landowner/developer the authors collaborated with others on a study that unravelled the development opportunities of Langhout's factory buildings, based on an assessment of the rich heritage values of the site. ... Read more