Adapt or Die, Deliberating Architectural Futures of
Historic Built Environments
This proposal is made specifically for student who is keenly interested in the future of historic built environments.
I am here specifically quoting an interested student, “In the age of fast constructions and easy replacements of the obsolete, why should anyone even bother investing so much time and effort into protecting a building that seems to have lost its practical relevance? Moreover, buildings often tend to be a physical manifestation of the owner’s or stakeholders’ aspirations. Why should they then, choose to ignore the convenience of newly building what they want and work on something that exists? Furthermore, with the lack of available craftsmanship for old materials and techniques, why should one bother to indulge in a process which is very often labor-intensive, and in certain cases – expensive?”
This research will look into the phenomenon of abandonment of historic buildings under many such conditions and through case studies, deliberate on solutions that are found. Solutions that find economic, social and historical meanings in the otherwise abandoned sites. These deliberations will then look into the nature of architectural meanings that are valorized or forgotten, possibly owing to the conditions of adaptation.
