Beyond Materiality Adaptive Reuse as a Situated and Ethical Practice in the Global South

Abstract

Contemporary society faces a critical crossroads concerning its built and cultural legacy. In a global context shaped by climate emergency, resource scarcity, and the progressive loss of local identities, adaptive reuse emerges not only as a pragmatic strategy for sustainability but also as an ethical imperative and a catalyst for architectural innovation. This paper explores how this approach—understood in an expanded sense—reconfigures both material and cognitive heritage in a situated and collective dimension. Through a qualitative methodology applied to three case studies that integrate vernacular practices and community participation in Global South settings—the revitalization of seven Tulou in Fujian (China); the religious and secular complex Hikma in Dandaji (Niger); and the Chaki Wasi Crafts Center in Zumbahua (Ecuador)—this research reveals innovative, place-based strategies that transcend materiality and act as invisible agents for indigenous wisdom, traditional techniques, and communal ways of inhabiting the territory. Each project, from its geographical location and cultural background, activates deeper social, symbolic, and intangible reuse processes. These range from heritage acupuncture that reinforces the community logic of Chinese fortified dwellings as new cultural nodes; through the intercultural mediation of a sub-Saharan mosque that hybridizes vernacular methods with contemporary programs to dismantle spatial and religious hierarchies; to the conceptual recovery of Andean craftsmanship by means of an architectural reinterpretation of quincha and the collective endeavor of minga, fostering local economies and safeguarding women’s intergenerational knowledge. The study thus proposes a critical expansion of the concept of adaptive reuse from a decolonial and gender perspective, highlighting resilient practices that—without relying on monumentality or spectacle—restore rooted and significant connections, traditions, and memories within their communities.