Changes of use in historic buildings in Santiago de Compostela: long-standing urban contexts emanating from morpho-functional association

Abstract

Urban and architectural history shows us two major approaches to make an effective use of historic buildings: preservation and reuse. Even in European historical cities, legal protecting coverage is given to a relatively small number of outstanding architectural works, usually designated as cultural assets. A major part of the urban built environment is, in fact, composed of common buildings in which remodelling and rehabilitation are the norm to keep them in use. This article is an attempt to analyse what kinds of use can help historic buildings to remain active, and what kinds of changes of use are expected to be successful when the previous one is old-fashioned. To this end, we conducted a field survey in the old town of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), known worldwide as a pilgrimage city, and analysed in depth a total of 29 historic properties (35 in number of buildings). As a result, conversion in use was confirmed for a great majority of the buildings, a practice in which morphological traits of the target property, integrated in the surrounding network of streets and squares, often motivated the subsequent renewed use. Our findings in Santiago suggest the existence of a dialectical relationship between the morphology of an urban property and the function that derives its utility value. Such a morpho-functional association, when accumulated over a long term, assists in creating durable contexts for the city building, understood as a both complex and evolving human practice.