Restorative Experience and Place Bonds in an Adaptively Reused Madrasa: A Mixed-Methods Case Study

The adaptive reuse of historic buildings is a conservation approach that integrates heritage protection with the principles of sustainable use; however, the effects of such interventions on users’ psychological experience have received limited attention. This study proposes and tests, in a single spatial case, a user-centred evaluation framework that links perceived restorativeness to sense of place and cultural heritage attachment, place satisfaction, and place identity in an adaptively reused historic building. The research was conducted at the Seljuk-period Bedriye Madrasa in Aksaray, Türkiye, which has been converted into a library, study space, and café using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative data obtained from 273 users were analysed with structural equation modelling (SEM), supplemented by robust (MLR) estimation and 10,000-resample bootstrapping, and qualitative data from three open-ended questions were analysed through content analysis and integrated with the quantitative results in a joint display. Perceived restorativeness had significant positive effects on sense of place and cultural heritage attachment (β = 0.795), place satisfaction (β = 0.386), and place identity (β = 0.458), and sense of place and cultural heritage attachment predicted both place satisfaction (β = 0.257) and place identity (β = 0.252), although the former effect was not fully robust to robust (MLR) estimation. The direct effect of place satisfaction on place identity was not significant, and the hypothesised mediation paths were either unsupported or only marginal. The qualitative findings converged with the quantitative results: the historic atmosphere, quietness, natural stone texture, and courtyard layout were associated with mental restoration, calmness, concentration, and a sense of cultural belonging. Two of the four scales are preliminary, context-specific measures validated only within the present sample. Because the framework was applied to one building, the findings are presented as a methodological model whose transferability should be tested across further cases. Within these limits, the study indicates that users’ psychological experience and the bonds they form with a building belong alongside physical conservation criteria in the evaluation of adaptive reuse.