RE-heritage Studio

“The value of remodeling [sic] exercises in architectural education is high … Contact with the already-built expands the students’ awareness of the multiplicity and availability of formal languages in architecture; and, in turn, a lively, intelligent use of history can be taught in the context of remodeling [sic] exercises.”
Rodolpho Machado

Our Ethos

The newly established RE-heritage Studio focused on the creative practice of adaptive reuse as a strategy to safeguard our cultural heritage and manage change while reducing the environmental impact of design choices. In both semesters students engaged with the re-purposing and re-modelling of dilapidated historic buildings, located locally and overseas.

In semester one the studio addressed the afterlife of Christian churches which become derelict after being decommissioned and disused. By exploring synergies with local grassroots organisations, students reconfigured the ruinous, formerly Grade II listed, Church of Christ in Birkenhead as a multipurpose community hub with spaces for learning, socialisation and wellbeing. In semester two the studio engaged with heritage-led reactivation of shrinking rural settlements. Students converted a series of vernacular structures in Buddusò, Italy, into a heritage training and interpretation centre which will foster skills development in traditional arts and crafts and showcase the local heritage through suitable interpretive responses.

Heritage training and interpretation centre from vernacular structures, Buddusò, Italy

“Regeneration is implemented not only through the restoration and reuse of historical buildings but also through the preservation and reactivation of intangible aspects, such as traditions, craftsmanship, or local narratives.”
Plevoets and Van Cleempoel

Buddusò, a small mountainous municipality in Sardinia, offered an ideal setting to design sustainable futures for vernacular built heritage in depopulating rural areas. The project site, situated at the junction of the high street and the town hall square, consisted of partly modernised domestic buildings and an abandoned flour mill with adjacent warehouses. Students were asked to repurpose the structures and outdoor areas into a heritage training and interpretation centre, complemented by dormitory-type accommodation which could function independently. The brief challenged students to explore, through design and content interpretation, strategies for the valorisation, practice and transmission of local craft, gastronomic and performing art traditions, with a view to enhancing the attractiveness of the area, fostering economic growth and jobs creation, and eventually stimulating the settlement’s re-occupation. During a field trip in February 2024, the RE-heritage Studio visited two heritage museums, a pottery workshop, Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites and a granite quarry, and engaged in talks, walking tours and a hybrid colloquium where academics from Liverpool and Alghero presented on strategies for countering the loss of cultural heritage in shrinking rural settlements in Japan, Oman, Italy and Portugal.

Header Image: Sardinia Stone Sculpture Experience Centre – Yumeng Hong

Tutors

Dr Giamila Quattrone
Dr Konstantina Georgiadou
Claudia Briguglio
Phil Owen

Special Thanks

Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay
Trina Bandyopadhyay
Ben Devereau
Kate Dodds
Peter Farrall
Dr Stuart Gee
Hana Koubková
Mani Lall
Lisa Mcfarlane
Dr Marisela Mendoza Ramos
Dr Antonello Monsù Scolaro
Zoë Polya-Vitry
Ted Ruffell
Roger Stephenson OBE
Prof Nwola Uduku
Dr Nicholas Webb
Wirral Borough Council
DADU, Università degli Studi di Sassari Comune, Buddusò
Biblioteca Centro Culturale, Buddusò

Student Galleries

The RE-heritage Studio

Students

  • Shuoting Bian
  • Harpreet Chahal
  • Harshitha Chowdary
  • Kommi
  • Charlotte Davidson
  • Zhouxinyue Deng
  • Junpeng Dong
  • Plajia Elias
  • Yuanyuan Feng
  • Hehao Ge
  • Sophie Green
  • Linlu Gu
  • Yuhe Gu
  • Bingcan Han
  • Junxin He
  • Barney Honeywill
  • Yumeng Hong
  • Yuhan Hou
  • Wenhao Huang
  • Will Johnson
  • Lewis Jones
  • Will Jude
  • Weiying Liang
  • Yuan Liang
  • Mengjia Liu
  • Ziyuan Liu
  • Shuyu Lu
  • Siyu Miao
  • Zhe Miao
  • Nyah Millership
  • Liam Parker
  • Hannah Richardson
  • Chloe Symcox
  • Yiding Wang
  • Yutong Wang
  • Lily Wood
  • Tianyu Yao
  • Muchen Zhang
  • Yutian Zhu