A critical look at the reuse options for a vernacular house in Alaçati

This study focuses on vernacular houses in historic and touristic settlements. The aim is to define environmental and architectural factors that are to be considered in the development of reuse options for vernacular houses in such settlements. It is claimed that tourism should be accepted as a reality in the establishment of conservation - usage balance for the mentioned houses; however, the importance of keeping the local people in their historic environment is underlined. In addition to these environmental factors, architectural ones such as presentation of heritage values, rehabilitation of the building structure, determination of user preferences and development of strategies for the ownership problem should be taken into consideration. In this context, a series of methods are combined. The literature on the usage problems especially in historic settlements attracted by tourists is reviewed, and criteria that guide the related architectural usages are defined. These are tested on a selected case study. Survey, historical research, comparative study and restitution results of the case study are presented. The role of tourism in the selected settlement, the presence of traditional qualities in the studied neighborhood, the types of heritage values and conservation problems, the preferences of the specific users in terms of architectural necessities, and the possible solutions for the ownership problem of the selected building are evaluated on the basis of preceding documentation. The evaluation results are used in the determination of usage options, building programs and related architectural designs. The design solutions are compared with one another in order to clarify the conclusive remarks. (Author abstract)