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The conservation of traditional residential architecture is crucial in terms of sociocultural continuity. When the traditional houses are no longer used for residential purposes, new functions should be assigned to them for the continuity of the heritage buildings. However, new functions should respect the originality of the heritage building. This research focuses on the conservation and reuse of traditional houses located in the walled city of Nicosia. The walled city is divided into two parts as north and south with a buffer zone between the two. This paper includes case studies of re-functioned traditional houses from the two parts. The study questions the appropriateness of the new functions that have been assigned to the traditional houses both in the northern and southern parts of the city. This research aims to measure and compare the success of the adaptive reuse practices through user experiences. As the method of study, the literature survey was carried out to identify different aspects of adaptive reuse projects. Then, selected buildings were observed through site surveys in order to discover the current condition of the adaptive reuse projects. The third step was to complete the questionnaires with different users in order to question the success of the adaptive reuse projects through the user experience. Finally, the collected data were evaluated and discussed. The respondents were asked to answer questions about each building, which are organized under the three categories of sociocultural, economic, and physical aspects of the heritage buildings. As observed with the evaluated case studies, heritage buildings that are re-functioned with the public use, such as commercial, cultural, and educational use, are more successful in contributing to the sociocultural and economic development of the city. The preservation and reuse of abandoned traditional houses in the walled city contribute to the continuity and livability of the city. For the continuity of the heritage buildings, sociocultural, economic, and physical aspects should be taken into consideration with a holistic approach.

Military establishments, including castles, fortresses, military posts and towers, were mainly constructed for defence purposes. The conservation of military structures as well as other heritage buildings is important since they are monuments that represent a sense of identity, and national pride, bearing a message of oppression. The only way to sustain these monuments is re-functioning with an appropriate approach since they have already lost their original function. However, the problem is to select the most appropriate function according to the structural and formal characteristics of the monuments. The study aims to question the success of the adaptive reuse projects in terms of appropriateness of the museum function and its implementation in castles. Generally, there is a tendency to convert old castles into museums. Due to the physical characteristics, museum can be accepted as a compatible function, if museums are designed with correct approaches. Otherwise, the heritage buildings will lack a living function and become disused or abandoned. The study is a comparative research among castles located in Cyprus and converted to museums. Four castles of the castles in Cyprus that have been converted to museums have been evaluated and compared in terms of the use of military establishments as museums. The selected castles were evaluated in two parts with defined criteria: firstly, in terms of conservation principles and secondly, in terms of museography. According to the results, generally the adaptive reuse projects have sustained the cultural identity of the heritage buildings; however, they have failed in bringing about efficient use and achieving socio-cultural benefits. Although structures have been preserved physically, most of them lack a living function and visitors. Existing exhibitions should be supported by other exhibitions or activities to attract more visitors. Also, successful museum design approaches around the world should be observed and analysed. Then, the existing museums should be re-designed.

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The preservation of historic buildings is important since they are social and cultural evidence of the past. In their lifetime, historic buildings may lose their function and become abandoned. Adaptive reuse is a way for a historic building to survive by changing the function according to the needs of its region.Museography is a field that fundamentally contributes to the collection, conservation and protection of a significant part of the movable cultural heritage. It comprises the methods and techniques related to the practical function of museums.In a museum the most important concern is the organization of displays, the use of light, circulation in the place and accessibility. If a museum is in an architectural heritage, this situation may create challenges both for designers and museographers since important concerns for conservation and museography should be taken into consideration together. Military establishments were mainly constructed for defence purpose including castles, military posts and towers; however, the reason of construction, forms similar characteristics among military buildings such as introverted organization and solid facades.The aim of the study is to question the success of the adaptive reuse projects in terms of appropriateness of the museum function in a military establishment both in a conservation approach and museography approach. The study is a comparative research. Two selected castles will be compared in terms of use of military establishments as museums. The castles are selected from two different countries: Sforzesco Castle in Milan, Italy and Kyrenia Castle in Kyrenia, Cyprus which was used as castles before and are now converted to museums. The buildings are evaluated in two parts with the defined criteria: firstly in terms of conservation principles and secondly in terms of museography. In order to question the success of a museum in a historic building, it is not enough to evaluate it only in terms of conservation principles. The concerns about museography are also crucial. The solutions depend on the creativity of the designer; however the correct approach is the collaboration of designer and museographer.