The valorisation of the Maltese windmill typology in the contemporary urban landscape : a values-based approach to adaptive reuse

Abstract

This research sets out to valorise the windmills of the Maltese Islands from an adaptive reuse perspective within the conservation field. The windmills, which constitute part of the Maltese industrial heritage as everyday places of work of the past, are not only undervalued in today's evolving cultural landscapes, but even more so critically underutilised within their contexts. For this reason, the study seeks to develop a value assessment index for the conservation of their cultural heritage values by collating data from different sources, mainly from physical site investigations. These findings have been quantified numerically and tabulated into an Adaptive Reuse Potential Index in order to calculate a score for the potential adaptive reuse for each windmill. Common typological characteristics pertaining to their historic & architectural value, socio-economic value and landscape value were then extracted to filter the windmills into three adaptive reuse categories based on such values- the Presentation, Community and Hospitality categories respectively. This value assessment process was used to formulate a Statement of Significance for the windmills as a typology that sums up how the heritage values identified constitute the character-defining elements of these structures, which in turn formed the basis for proposing a practical Framework for Consenting the Cultural Heritage Values of the Maltese windmills. The implications of this framework should be seen as guidelines for best practice in carrying out an effective reuse strategy as well as sensitive architectural interventions to safeguard the integrity and authenticity of the Maltese windmills. The conclusions reached clearly point towards the need for basing conservation decisions on a values-based approach that is context-based where it is never a one-size fits all deal.