Sustainability and the Expected Effects of Office-to-Residential Conversion in Historic Downtown Areas of South Korea

South Korea has industrialized and urbanized rapidly since the 1970s, and subsequently, the historic downtown areas of major cities have been hollowed out as the population and industry have become concentrated in urban centers. Based on the Urban Decline Indicators of Korea, in accordance with the Urban Revitalization Act of the South Korean government, a comparative analysis of the population changes, office vacancy rate, building aging rate, decrease in the number of industries and employees, and housing supply and demand in historic downtown areas and new urban areas of six major South Korean cities demonstrated that all six historic downtown areas have declined significantly. Currently, little research is available in South Korea on the expansion of urban living and the inflow of urban residents through office-to-residential building conversion. Therefore, this study explores the expansion of urban residences to revitalize these historic downtown areas. To this end, this study examines the feasibility of converting poorly functioning, vacant offices in historic downtown areas into residential spaces to present a sustainable strategy for their complexation. This study finds that office-to-residential building conversion is a sustainable way to recover urban space and grow the population and industry in historic downtown areas.

CONVERSION STRATEGIES FOR DUTCH PRIMARY SCHOOLS: PRACTICE AND REFINEMENT

Handbooks on strategic real estate management are generally based on four strategies for functional adjustment of the building: conversion, expansion, renovation and adaptive reuse. And on a strategic level, this classification in adjustment strategies does work for real estate in general. But when looking at Dutch primary schools as a specific type of real estate, reality can be and is more nuanced. Other accommodation strategies came to the fore in a study into the spatial adaptation of primary schools and children’s centres in the Netherlands. An analysis of 100 school buildings studied in the Atlas of School Building (published in Dutch as Scholenbouwatlas) revealed that nine main strategies were prevalent in practice. This refinement of the strategies fits (better) with integrated conversion actions of primary schools in which several aspects are solved together. In the following article these strategies are analysed and discussed in a theoretical context. The conclusion of the analyses is that the existing general models in the strategic handling of the building stock in the case of specific real estate of primary schools can be refined.

Ranking of Heritage Building Conversion Alternatives by Applying BIM and MCDM: A Case of Sapieha Palace in Vilnius

A balance (symmetry) between socio-cultural and socio-economic benefits as a part of the economic, social, and cultural development policy of each city and country should be assured when converting built heritage. To anticipate building conversion priorities and opportunities, modern technologies can be employed. However, currently the activity of reconstruction of heritage buildings is part of the construction domain wherein modern digital technologies have been the least ever applied. Therefore, photogrammetry and the 3D modeling of existing heritage buildings was suggested. A case study of Sapieha Palace, built in the Baroque style in 1689–1691 in Vilnius, Lithuania was explored in this research. The applied technologies and software (Agisoft Photoscan, Autodesk ReCap and Autodesk Revit) allowed for the creation of a high quality and accurate model involving both the textured exterior of the building and the interior layout. In addition, the valuable features of a building were identified and marked in a three-dimensional digital model. Based on the model, the authors formulated possible conversion alternatives of the building and identified the associated decision-making criteria, as well as determined their relative significance by an expert survey method. The authors suggested the application of the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method under uncertainty, namely the rough weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS), for ranking alternatives according to multiple criteria. Therefore, the suggested integration of modern digital technologies and decision-making models helps to assure the rational conversion decision of built cultural heritage based on high accuracy data as well as contributing to the sustainable development of engineering processes.

Implementing BIM for industrial and heritage building conversion

From systemic perspective reconstruction and restoration of industrial buildings are similar to historical and cultural heritage buildings. The maintenance and reuse of these buildings becoming more and more important research area worldwide. This importance must increase the information management demand but however, the most advanced digital technologies are rarely used. Use of 3D modelling technologies or whole building information modelling (BIM) methodology can help to save digital information of historic buildings is a significant effort to preserve the heritage and retain its most valuable features.

The Sustainable Strategy of Obsolete Building Conversion to Residential Uses

Changes in the existing urban structures that result in obsolescence and abandonment of buildings, open up the opportunities for an alternative use of the existing building fund which would be in line with the current needs and aspirations of today. Conversion of obsolete buildings to residential buildings might be an optimal solution for the social and demographic changes that continuously influence and intensify the demands for new housing. The paper points out the quality of this approach and explores the extent to which conversion of obsolete buildings for residential uses may be a valid tool in sustainable development strategy.