Ash Sakula's Adaptable Neighbourhoods featured in Sally Stone's new book 'UnDoing Buildings'

'UnDoing Buildings' discusses how we might approach existing buildings which have outlived their function, arguing that remodelling is both a healthy and environmentally sustainable approach. Ash Sakula's research into adaptable neighbourhoods as part of their Leicester Waterside proposal has been cited as a key example of how we might creatively approach neighbourhoods and architectures which are embedded with a rich cultural memory and lived history.

Their approach is to instigate incremental regeneration by working directly with the people who live and work in a neighbourhood. This is a gentler approach to renewal, something that is opposed to the tabula rasa idea of stating again. They encourage the neighbourhood to adapt organically to new opportunities, to celebrate low property values as an opportunity for young people to invent new businesses and encourage older people to continue with businesses that have declining order books but still serve a purpose. s architects they can help see the way that under-appreciated buildings and whole areas can eventually find new audiences.

- Sally Stone, Undoing Buildings (London: Routledge, 2020), 146.