Redefining Heritage and Cultural Preservation Through Design: A Framework for Experience Design

The recent attention towards cultural preservation and heritage studies has positioned design to redefine cultural experiences in the contemporary context. Against this backdrop, design is marked by an ability to transform and revitalise cultural practices to change and alter perceptions, generate and disseminate knowledge, and create new value through the curation of experience. A case-study on temple architecture in Tamil Nadu, India presents the tensions posed by globalisation to discuss and explore the development of design tools, evaluation of the design process, and the creation of a design-based framework for intangible culture and heritage. This paper introduces a future mode for designing cultural experiences through community engagement by identifying four key design principles guiding the preservation and sustainability of endangered cultural traditions, practices, and spaces.