Proceedings of International Conference on Architecture 2017 (ICRP-AVAN),

Unsyiah (Banda Aceh) and UiTM (Perak), October 18-19, 2017, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

A Review of Authenticity in Adaptive Reuse of Heritage Buildings in

Malaysia
1 2 3
Hasni Suryani Mat Hasan , Lilawati Ab Wahab , Dzulkarnaen Ismail

Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Perak), Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Heritage buildings is one of the urban identities for the city and should be well-preserved not
only because of the value and story, it also because of existing building stock. Reusing existing
building stock can contribute to combat the environmental load significantly by reducing the
material, transport, energy consumption and pollution in construction of new building. In recent
year, adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is popping out so fast, compared to previous year which
heritage building mainly suffers from dilapidated and poor building conditions. Adaptive reuse
is converting the original function of existing buildings which services and technology are
outdated to a new building purpose for new need to meet the current development. However, in
eager of owner and local authority applying the adaptive reuse approach in heritage buildings,
this approach has been recently criticised for jeopardizing the authenticity of the heritage
buildings. Hence, the aims of this study are to develop authenticity assessment rating tool for
adaptive reuse project based on the authenticity principle in conservation. It is believed that this
tool can help increasing the percentage of authenticity and creating an awareness of this evolving
new field of this studies. This study involved reviewing all relevant literature to embrace all
information pertaining to authenticity in adaptive reuse and suggesting the research
instrumentations for future data collection. It is hoped that the outcome of this study will help
organisation or individual interested in adaptive reuse for future references.

Keywords: Authenticity, Adaptive reuse, Heritage buildings.

INTRODUCTION
Malaysia has a lot of heritage buildings which have own value and story, (Ahmad, 2006) by portraying
through buildings styles (Sodangi, Khamidi, & Idrus, 2013).These buildings have a variety of interesting styles,
influences, as well as symbol of the economy development (Toong & Utaberta, 2015) and become one of the
urban identities for the city. Heritage buildings should be preserved not only because of the value and story,
but also because of existing building stock. According to Rovers (2004), by using existing building stock, it
contributes to combat the environmental load significantly within the next 20 years and this can contribute to
sustainable development by reducing the material, transport ,energy consumption and pollution in construction
of new building. Yudelson(2010) emphasized, 75% of all buildings expected to be operating in the year 2040
by reusing the existing building. This statement stressed that it is vital to conserve heritage buildings for our
future development. As heritage buildings show a lot of significance as mentioned above, adaptive reuse
approach will be used to retain the heritage buildings which can contribute to extend the building’s life and
avoid demolition waste, encourage reuses of the embodied energy and also provide significant social and
economic benefits to the society (Douglas, 2006; Yung & Chan, 2012).
Adaptive reuse converted the old buildings function which services and technology were outdated into a
new building purpose for new needs of the inheritors due to development by injecting new materials and ideas
while at the same time retaining the original structure and fabric (Douglas, 2006). Adaptive reuse is beginning
to receive widespread attention because of the economic, social and environmental benefits that can be
espoused (Bullen & Love, 2011; Melis, 2010). This is supported by Tan, Olanrewaju, & Lee (2016) added
recent year, adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is popping out so fast, compared to previous year which mainly
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 Proceedings of International Conference on Architecture 2017 (ICRP-AVAN),
Unsyiah (Banda Aceh) and UiTM (Perak), October 18-19, 2017, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

suffers from dilapidated and turned into corpses. Adaptive reuse is one of the conservation techniques which
can save heritage buildings being replaced by the new building and preserve the identity of the place (Douglas,
2006; Shen & Langston, 2010). The reuse of heritage buildings enables future generation to appreciate the
identity of the building (Burke, 2007) as the heritage buildings represents unique architectural, aesthetic,
political and social features of a different time (Rashid, 2016). Therefore, the best way to keep the minimum
loss of heritage buildings authenticity and contribute to combat the environmental load significantly is by
applying adaptive reuse in the right way. However, in eager of owner and local authority applying the adaptive
reuse approach in heritage buildings, this approach has been recently criticised for compromising the
authenticity (Ab Wahab, Mohd Hamdan, Lop, & Mohd Kamar, 2016; Fernando, 2001; Jasme, Othuman Mydin,
& Sani, 2014; Wan Ismail, 2012) of the heritage buildings. They want to conserve the heritage buildings but
in the same time ruin the authenticity (Tikhonova & Alho, 2015). Adaptive reuse project of heritage buildings
might compromise the authenticity to satisfy the development needs (Aydin & Yaldiz, 2010). This paper’s aim
is to identify the problems faced by stakeholders in obtaining the authenticity of heritage building in applying
authenticity of adaptive reuse with minor intervention of the authenticity. To make sure this adaptive reuse
approach done in the right way, authenticity in conservation principle are applied in adaptive reuse.
Authenticity in conservation principle is a process to expose the true nature of an object based on the
historical evident (Harun, 2011) and help to slow down the heritage property erosion process. This principle
does not hinder development, but in fact acts as a catalyst to the development and well-being of a town (Burke,
2007). The adaptive reuse is an approach of changing the building function when the original purpose of the
building is no longer viable with minimum intervention and maintain as much as possible the original building
fabric to harmonize with the new demand of development (Aly Shehata, 2014; Harun, 2011). This statement
stressed in applying adaptive reuse, the stakeholder can change the authenticity of heritage building to parallel
with the demand for development as long as the fabric is maintained. Without the ability to change, this building
turned into corpses and would die. (Boussaa, 2010). Heritage building function must change to fulfill the new
needs of development with integration of contemporary design which can contribute to vibrant and visually
exciting spaces that people want to live, work or play in today (Aly Shehata, 2014). As mentioned earlier,
adaptive reuse approach has been recently criticised for compromising the authenticity. To make sure this
adaptive reuse approach done in the right way, authenticity in conservation principle are applied in adaptive
reuse. Hence, the aim of this study is to develop authenticity assessment rating tool for adaptive reuse project
based on the authenticity principle in conservation, thus can increase the percentage of authenticity and create
an awareness of this evolving new field of this studies.

LACK OF AUTHENTICITY IN ADAPTIVE REUSE OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS.

Today people have become more conscious about building conservation of built environment but the issue
appear now is regarding the authenticity of the heritage buildings. Previous studies have discussed on the
improper conservation of the heritage building that diminish the authenticity of heritage buildings. According
to Fernando (2001), 8% of the early heritage buildings in Malacca are still in the original form while 51% had
been renovated and 41% had either perished or lost in originality due to renovation works in adaptive reuse.
Wan Ismail, (2012) stressed, only certain heritage building in the row to be preserved, the rest were subjected
to the hideous conservation works that totally destroy the authentic value. Jasme, Othuman Mydin, & Sani,
(2014) added, there are still many buildings that have been adaptively reused without following the regulations,
thereby, losing the building’s authenticity and historical significance. This statement is in line with Ab Wahab,
Mohd Hamdan, Lop, & Mohd Kamar, (2016), most of the walls in adaptive reuse of heritage buildings lose
their authenticity of material and design. It is showed that lack of authenticity in heritage building is a serious
issue and need to combat due to the negative effects happened to the heritage buildings value as well as the
environmental significant. From this issue, the lack of authenticity may influence by many interrelated factors.
Most of the researchers agreed that, there is no effective legal protection and control pertaining to authenticity
within the local governments in adaptive reuse (Omar & Ishak, 2009; Zahari, Harun, Ahmad, Zawawi, & Agus,
2016) and the stakeholders unable to follow most of the guidelines due to incomplete information and details
for each component of the building element regarding authenticity in adaptive reuse approach (Aly Shehata,
2014; Jasme et al., 2014) contribute to this issue.
By viewing into the problem, improper assessment guideline could be tricky among stakeholders.
Obviously, the local authority needs to take action to ensure that proper authenticity assessment will be adopted
in adaptive reuse. Therefore, it is vital to consider how to develop the assessment in authenticity of adaptive
reuse to make sure that the stakeholder able to follow the guideline without overlooking the authenticity
although need to change the building function in heritage buildings. For that reason, it is suggested to identify
the problem of authenticity in adaptive reuse project which can help stakeholders to fill the loophole in applying
this approach.
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 Proceedings of International Conference on Architecture 2017 (ICRP-AVAN),
Unsyiah (Banda Aceh) and UiTM (Perak), October 18-19, 2017, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

CURRENT RESEARCH OF AUTHENTICITY IN ADAPTIVE REUSE FOCUSING ON

ASSESSMENT IS NOT ADEQUATE THUS, REQUIRED FURTHER INVESTIGATION TO BE
CARRIED OUT IN THIS FIELD OF STUDY.
To date, there has not been any satisfactory approach which can be applied for authenticity assessment in
adaptive reuse of heritage building. The assessment from previous researcher only focus on descriptive
assessment, not on numerical assessment as shown in Table 1.1. In this table, most researchers have discussed
on the diminish authenticity in adaptive reuse in building component on heritage building using descriptive
assessment with different building types. Conversely, in the context of accurateness it is vital to have numerical
assessment to get the precise data pertaining to the authenticity in adaptive reuse approach. Furthermore, with
numerical assessment the results are more structured and reliable. Thus, this research seems relevant in
developing assessment rating tool of authenticity in adaptive reuse buildings.

Table1. Previous studies in assessment on building component in adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.
Author Finding Analysis
Ab.Wahab,Mohd.Hamdan, Lop, Most of the wall in adaptive Assessment in adaptive reuse of
& Kamar reuse of heritage building lose heritage building to hotel in
their authenticity. Georgetown.

Misirlisoy Adaptive reuse failed in Assessment in adaptive reuse of

bringing about efficient use and heritage castle to museum in
achieving socio-cultural Cyprus
benefits.

Aminudin Most of the outer layer and wall Assessment in adaptive reuse of
of heritage building affected in heritage building to cafe in Ipoh
adaptive reuse. Only the
structures are maintained

Mydin, Keling, Sani, & Abas None of these six case studies Assessment in adaptive reuse of
have fully followed the heritage shophouses to sleep
requirements stated in the lodging in Penang.
guidelines.

Jasme, Othuman Mydin, & Sani Many buildings that have been Assessment in adaptive reuse of
adaptively reused without heritage building to museum in
following the regulations. Penang.
Source: Researcher 2017

In conclusion, the problems have been identified previously was emphasized on lack of authenticity in
adaptive reuse. It seems clearly indicated that the implementation of several local authority guideline towards
authenticity assessment was still inconsistent and have loopholes. Therefore, this research may over view in
detail what exactly the current scenario of authenticity assessment in heritage buildings.

METHODS
The overall research framework shows the research methodology which embraced three stages of method
in collecting and analyzing data.
a) Stage One: Qualitative
First stage of this research begins with literature review for references including articles, journals, books
and internet sources related to adaptive reuse heritage shop houses. All the data from literature reviewed also
has played a key role in enhancing understanding of this research’s subject, and used to develop the research
questions and research objectives. Furthermore, the document analysis from local authority in heritage city
which is Ipoh, Georgetown and Malacca is collected to explore and identify the existing current assessment of
authenticity in adaptive reuse. In order to support the data collected from document analysis, interview session
will be conducted with experts. This data will be focusing on identifying the current assessment of authenticity
in adaptive reuse.

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Architecture 2017 (ICRP-AVAN),
Unsyiah (Banda Aceh) and UiTM (Perak), October 18-19, 2017, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

b) Stage Two: Qualitative (Interview, observation) and Quantitative (Questionnaires)

In this stage, qualitative and quantitative are adopted to identify authenticity indicator for adaptive reuse
heritage buildings. Qualitative will be conducted with expert’s panel through semi structured interview to gain
accurate data (Creswell, 2013). This data will be analyzedd using Atlas.ti. In addition, quantitative data
collection will be conducted in this research as to achieve the objective. Therefore, questionnaire survey will
be distributed to experts. Data collected will be analyzedd using SPSS to get numerical output indicator.

c) Stage Three: Qualitative (Interview, observation)

Stage three is validation stage which comprised of two qualitative method, semi structured interview and
observation. This data will be analyzedd using Atlas.ti. In this stage, a single case studies will be carried out.
The inventory will be carried out around heritage city and a result will lead to discover the building component
that affected in adaptive reuse at heritage buildings. The heritage buildings will be screened to identify the
adaptive reuse that is suitable as a case study for this research based on several criteria to represent another
heritage building. These criteria are:
i. The application of the adaptive reuse principles and the heritage buildings in heritage city.
ii. The heritage building that has interesting heritage background.
iii. The heritage design which has interesting architecture value.

However, data collected from stage one and two will be utilized together as to develop authenticity
assessment tool. Consequently, in cases where the data sources will consist of various types of data, a single
method is not possible. Therefore, Creswell, (2013) pointed out that the mixed methods approaches are
applicable to this research to enhance the strengths and reduces the limitation of quantitative and qualitative
research as well as combining them to collect precise data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The aim of the research is to develop the assessment rating tool for authenticity in adaptive reuse of heritage
buildings by preparing a detail study on the attributes of authenticity in adaptive reuse. It is hoped that the
outcome of this study will help organization or individual interested in adaptive reuse for future references.
Therefore, the expected contributions this research to current knowledge are:
i. Contribution to the literature review.
ii. Contribution to the methodology in research.

The finding of this research also give the practical contribution that will assist:
i. Local authority as a reference in adaptive reuse process which may assist in proposing the guidelines in
controlling the adaptive reuse work and assessment in application and monitoring stage.
ii. Stakeholder as a guideline to the stakeholder in adaptive reuse project.
iii. Environment by adaptive reuse, their embodied energy is retained, making the project much more
environmentally sustainable than entirely new construction.
iv. Socioeconomic landmark to attract the presence of tourist, the situation may generate income to the
society and economy.
v. Public create awareness especially to the owner of the heritage buildings on conserving and preserving
the heritage buildings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the main supervisor, Dr. Lilawati Ab.Wahab for her exceptional patience,
encouragement, guidance, counsel, and advice throughout all the stages of this paper. Special thanks go to my
second supervisor, Dr. Dzulkarnaen Ismail, for his comments and suggestions given during the completion of
this paper. It was a great pleasure for me to undertake this research under their supervision.

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Architecture 2017 (ICRP-AVAN),
Unsyiah (Banda Aceh) and UiTM (Perak), October 18-19, 2017, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

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