Francisco De Inza

The project is concerned with the feasibility of converting Institutional Heritage into affordable housing units through a sustainable design approach. It aims to evaluate the potential for this type of intervention to provide good quality affordable housing while simultaneously pushing for the rehabilitation and preservation of local cultural and historical landmarks.

This study investigates the possibility of transforming institutional heritage into affordable housing, adapting the scale of the spaces to their new functions while still preserving the quality of the spaces and existing facades. To guide the development of the research, the concepts of Critical preservation and Transformative reuse constitute the key theoretical guides, not only as independent ideas, but also their relationship and the requirement of balance between them during the proposed intervention.

The proposed building for intervention is the Dundee Customs House, built in 1842, which has remained abandoned for over a decade. The proposal especially focuses on the concept of scale. The resulting strategy would progress from the purely technical conversion of historical heritage to the proposal of a system that redefines the quality of the spaces while maintaining the historical essence and significance of the existing building.