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Curating Technology: bridging intangible heritage and circular economy in adaptive reuse contexts

Rebekah Coffman
Chicago, IL, USA
curatingtechnology@gmail.com

Ashley Kochiss
Paris, France & New York, NY, USA
curatingtechnology@gmail.com

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Introduction

This research advances cultural heritage conversations through a methodology that curates our sense of history through intertwined environmental impacts and intangible values. This interdisciplinary approach applies sustainability measures used for living heritage (identification, definition, and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in urban contexts) and the built environment industry (decarbonization across a project’s life cycle) into a unified framework to study their relationship. This project surveyed three sacred space case studies located in London, UK: former Highgate Wesleyan Methodist Church (now Jackson Lane Theatre), former Lyndhurst Hall (now Air Studios), and former St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (now Wembley Central Mosque). The final case study, Wembley Central Mosque, was then selected for further study, and BIM models were created to quantify the relationships between embodied carbon, material reuse, and intangible heritage. This method serves as a model for how emergent sustainability technologies can innovate preservation’s focus toward living heritage with inclusion in sustainable development policies.

Project Summary

Figure 1: Jackson Lane Theatre (former Highgate Wesleyan Methodist Church) (Curating Technology)

First, this project provides evidence that narrative history within adaptive contexts benefits historical significance more holistically and inclusively. This is argued through safeguarding of communities associated with the adapted site’s intangible cultural heritage. This approach provides a framework that permits a more comprehensive representation of an adapted site that would be limited by only following built heritage listing conventions. 

Figure 2: Air Studios (former Lyndhurst Hall) (Curating Technology)

Second, this project uses advancements in life-cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modelling (BIM) technology to perform quantitative embodied carbon metrics of the physical changes made in adapted spaces that hold significant heritage value. Such technology allows professionals to identify adapted spaces with the lowest environmental impacts and enables direct comparisons between cultural heritage and sustainability benchmarks. 

This methodology builds on two approaches towards built heritage that have been merged to analyze the sustainability of intangible values of adapted sacred spaces. The first approach is based on initial heritage studies addressing both built and intangible heritage in adapted religious contexts of ritual reuse. The second approach is based on studies for Greater London Authority (GLA) planning submission requirements for Circular Economy Statements for all reuse developments of historical value.   

In the first approach, preliminary studies examined Historic England (HE) listings for their lack of consistent process to address ritual reuse in purpose-built religious structures that had been identified as heritage assets through HE listing schemes and also retained intangible heritage qualities through their continued use as sites of religious practice by communities of different faith traditions than the building’s original purpose, termed “sacred shift.” This examined listed places of Christian worship that had been adapted for use as mosques as a subset of this phenomenon. It was intended to bring attention to imbalances in heritage processes between conservation of built forms and stewardship of ritual use in settings that retain sacred qualities to multiple communities, especially for diasporic, underrepresented traditions in HE listings.

Through the course of this ongoing research, the United Kingdom adopted UNESCO’s convention for Intangible Cultural Heritage on 7 March 2024 and came into effect 7 June 2024. At the time of writing, Historic England has not published a national framework for incorporating intangible heritage recognition within its heritage listing system. However, increasing attention has been given to the subject, including exploratory guidance for when and if it is incorporated. This present study thus provides a timely contribution to the UK’s adoption of intangible heritage as it proposes a framework for its assessment in adapted architectural contexts.

With the second approach, UK policy has grown in recent years to include and expand circular economy initiatives, goals, and requirements. In 2021, the UK adopted the Net Zero Strategy setting out policies for decarbonizing all sectors of the UK economy to meet the net zero target by 2050. Since its publication, it has initiated the requirement of circular economy targets. Specifically in London, the London Plan Guidance mandates a circular economy statement as both a written report and template spreadsheet that depicts and explains proposed developments’ sustainability targets. Sustainable performance targets from other prominent leaders in the construction field such as RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge and Leti 2030 Target are becoming benchmarks for all new proposals. With the new London Plan Guidance set for review in 2026 and a new plan expected for adoption in 2027, projects need to employ new ideas beyond national standards and provide clearer net zero policies to improve resilience, especially for sensitive adaptation and retrofit of heritage assets.

Wembley Central Mosque (former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church)

Figure 3: Exterior of Wembley Central Mosque (former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church) (Curating Technology)

With both these approaches in mind, this study focuses on a sacred shift example, the former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, now Wembley Central Mosque. The site’s heritage listing does not currently address its ritual reuse, nor does it contain narrative context for potential religious intangible heritage. As such, this study creates both an enhanced narrative to more fully represent the site’s layered religious heritage as well as ways to incorporate intangible heritage considerations for its continued use as a place of worship that embraces shared qualities of ritual between Christian and Muslim communities. 

Figure 4: Interior of Wembley Central Mosque (former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church) (Curating Technology)

This study’s proposed method for recognizing intangible heritage implements a combination of methodologies by including expanded narrative of the building’s adapted purpose alongside built and intangible heritage domains. The domains are mapped relationally based on linguistic associations present in the existing Historic England listing and onsite analysis. Public memory is addressed through a combination of interviews and publicly submitted commentary through the “Enrich the List”/“Missing Pieces” public portals on Historic England’s website, which allow for public comments and submitted images to provide informal, crowdsourced updates to HE listings. 

This study captures the relationship between ritual reuse, heritage, and carbon use through a proposed Circular Economy Template, which creates a standardized evaluation for material and intangible heritage elements that can be readily employed by trained heritage and planning professionals working with communities on sites of adaptive reuse demonstrating heritage significance. Mapped elements are weighted based on frequency and correlated to UNESCO’s heritage domains. These are then used to identify material heritage elements that represent intangible heritage forms. 

Figure 5: Revit models created for four periods of the building’s life (1904, 1995, 2009, 2013) (Curating Technology) 

Finally, to quantify and visualize the relationship between these CE principles and embodied carbon, the building was modeled in four different adaptation stages. Life-cycle metrics were taken from each model and compared to current standards and policies. The combined results give insight into the endurance of materials through their continuous reuse for specific spaces that continue to be culturally and spiritually valuable. 

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