Evaluating the Interpretation of Heritage Buildings by Architectural Conservation (The Case Study on Reused Houses as Hotels)

Historically, architecture has been one of the most popular practices as it responds to social, cultural, economical and theoretical contexts in each community by including a vast range of ideas which are led to construct buildings and develop communities. Architecture and history are in a direct relation with identity as their connector element. A nation's identity that relates them to the place where they live is expressed by their architecture that captures memories and prevents their destruction, hence, protecting architectural heritage by conservation and reuse of them is a right remedy to protect the nations' memories, identity and culture in contemporary life that cultures are integrating by globalization. This research studies on protecting and expressing a nation's cultural identity by conserving their historic architectural traits as one significant aspect of their heritage to respect and retain their authenticity and cultural significance by regarding the principles of international charters for conservation which are adopted by ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites. Moreover, this research studies on reusing historic buildings as a growing beneficial act to face ecological and development issues and on redesign plan which is required for most cases. Although redesign can be divided into two parts, aesthetic redesign and structural redesign, but evaluation of the first part which is related to aesthetic values and cultural significance of a property is beyond the scope of this research. According to ICOMOS, interpretation means "all the ways of presenting the cultural significance of a place". This study evaluates the conservation and redesign plans through the overall interpretation of reused historic buildings in terms of authenticity, historical and architectural values and cultural significance by considering their new purpose. Besides, the research is limited to study on the aesthetic redesign of historic houses and mansions which are conserved and reused as hotels in specific areas. Data is gathered from the literature reviews and the four case studies are selected according to a particular redesign approach among the existing cases in the two touristic historic cities, Istanbul in Turkey and Yazd in Iran which host the most number of similar cases and are evaluated in details due to selected international charters for conservation and redesign standards which contribute to the aim of this study. Information of the case studies is directly collected on their sites by observation and from the related organizations. Finally, evaluation of the results is discussed in conclusion. This research emphasizes on respecting to authenticity and cultural significance of heritage buildings through redesign plans while responding to the inevitable new needs of reuse. It is hoped to shift the awareness about the issue and to form a basis for other researchers to develop this research. Keywords: Architectural Heritage, Authenticity and Cultural Significance, Conservation, Reuse, Redesign