This research studies the effects of adaptive vernacular reuse on industrial heritage sites. Hereby the studied effects are focused on industrial sites in Dutch cities. Within the Netherlands a trend can be seen of cities trying to densify the urban environment. This trend is the consequence of a housing shortage and a low availability of developable space for urban growth. Because of this densification process an increasing number of industrial sites get redeveloped into mixed-use neighborhoods. Characterized by their indistinguishable architecture these redeveloped industrial sites generate a unique type of neighborhood where old and new are merged together. Why these industrial sites get recognized as valuable potential locations where densification can take place is studied in this research. Looking at vernacular aspects and the way they dictate heritage preservation. Thereby the preservation through use of adaptive reuse strategies and how these strategies can be combined with vernacular aspects get studied based on a reference study on the NDSM-wharf in Amsterdam. In this research both integration of vernacular architecture and adaptive reuse practices get combined in an adaptive vernacular reuse design study.