TY - JOUR
T1 - Challenging Uncomfortableness: The adaptive reuse of Bendigo Gaol into Ulumbarra Theater and School
AU - Shehata, Waled
AU - Langston, Craig Ashley
AU - Sarvimaki, Marja
AU - Smith, Jim
N1 - Waled Shehata, Ph.D. student at the Bond University's Abedian School of Architecture in Gold Coast, Australia. He holds M.Sc. degree in Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Cairo, Egypt (RIBA awarding institute), and had lectured the Architectural Heritage Preservation and Conservation course in the same academy. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Planning and Management, from ITC, Twente University, The Netherlands. Waled's academic and professional works look specifically at human engagement with the built environment, cultural heritage, architectural education, and the stimuli of heritage adaptive reuse design in these matters.
Craig Langston, Professor at the Construction Management department, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. He has more than 30 years’ experience as a practitioner and academic, and now leads the Project Management program at Bond University. Most recently, he has developed Bond’s new Master of Project Innovation degree. Langston also is Director of the Centre for Comparative Construction Research and undertakes research across a range of topics relevant to Project Management, for which his team has won several industry awards. He is the author of 5 international books, over 100 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, and has lead four Australian Research Council Linkage Project grants, mostly related to adaptive reuse and amounting to nearly $1 million in external competitive funding over his career.
Marja Sarvimäki, Associate Professor at the Bond University's Abedian School of Architecture in Gold Coast, Australia, and responsible for the School's Architectural History and Theory curriculum. Previously she taught Architectural History-Theory and design studios at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture. She is born in Helsinki, Finland, and earned her MArch and PhD at the Helsinki University of Technology (current department of Aalto University). She also has pursued studies on Japanese architecture at the Tokyo National University of Arts in Tokyo and conducted her post-doctoral research on Korean architecture at the Korea University in Seoul. Her work includes numerous publications on East Asian cultures as well as architectural research methodology.
Jim Smith, Professor of Urban Development at Bond University. His academic career encompasses teaching and research positions at the National University of Singapore, City University, Hong Kong, Deakin University, and the University of Melbourne. Professor Smith co-authored six books and published more 100 scholarly journal and conference research papers.
Funding Information:
This article is funded by a Bond University Postgraduate Research Award [grant number 2018] and is part of a series of research work concerned with the adaptive reuse of Australia’s heritage gaols, see Shehata, Langston, and Sarvimäki (2018), Shehata et al. (2020), Shehata, Sarvimäki, and Langston (2021b), and Shehata et al. (2021a). The work presented here could not have been done except with the generous efforts spent by Matthew Dwyer, Director of Y2 Architecture; Dale Pearce, Principal of Bendigo Senior Secondary College; and Stan Liacos, the former Director of Bendigo City Council, as well as the valuable feedback provided by all participating teachers, community members, and theater manager and operators. Nonetheless, the authors are grateful for the support of the volunteers who undertook the pilot interview questions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023/6/30
Y1 - 2023/6/30
N2 - This article discusses the adaptive reuse of buildings associated with uncomfortable memories that have been turned into places for the general public to enjoy. It can be argued that the transformation of Australian heritage gaols into museums makes economic, cultural, and social sense, given the increasing rate of interest in dark tourism and the willingness of contemporary Australians and international tourists to understand the continent’s carceral history. However, the adaptive reuse of some gaols into places that provide multiple forms of art, culture, and education is a recent phenomenon that is under-studied. Bendigo Gaol, which was recently adapted into Ulumbarra Theater in addition to being partially occupied by a high school, retains many elements of the uncomfortable architectural features of the gaol. This paper investigates the factors mentioned in the literature that negotiate the uncomfortable past for its new functional purpose. Discussion of these factors provides clarity for decision-makers on how to maximize the full potential of conversion, while simultaneously commemorating the history of the site. This research concludes that reusing Bendigo Gaol to an art-and-education building was a collective decision and, despite being successful, appears to have not been sensitive to its uncomfortable history.
AB - This article discusses the adaptive reuse of buildings associated with uncomfortable memories that have been turned into places for the general public to enjoy. It can be argued that the transformation of Australian heritage gaols into museums makes economic, cultural, and social sense, given the increasing rate of interest in dark tourism and the willingness of contemporary Australians and international tourists to understand the continent’s carceral history. However, the adaptive reuse of some gaols into places that provide multiple forms of art, culture, and education is a recent phenomenon that is under-studied. Bendigo Gaol, which was recently adapted into Ulumbarra Theater in addition to being partially occupied by a high school, retains many elements of the uncomfortable architectural features of the gaol. This paper investigates the factors mentioned in the literature that negotiate the uncomfortable past for its new functional purpose. Discussion of these factors provides clarity for decision-makers on how to maximize the full potential of conversion, while simultaneously commemorating the history of the site. This research concludes that reusing Bendigo Gaol to an art-and-education building was a collective decision and, despite being successful, appears to have not been sensitive to its uncomfortable history.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162645552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/2159032X.2023.2226578
DO - 10.1080/2159032X.2023.2226578
M3 - Article
SN - 2159-032X
VL - 16
SP - 109
EP - 133
JO - Heritage and Society
JF - Heritage and Society
IS - 2
ER -