Adaptable Architecture provides thought-provoking and inquisitive insights into how we can prolong the useful life of buildings by designing them to be more adaptable, and hence create a more sustainable built environment. The book provides a theoretical foundation counterpointed by the experiences and ideas of those involved in the design and use of buildings. It explains many approaches to designing for change, with lessons from history, and case studies including The Cedar Rapids Public Library, Kentish Town Health Centre and Folkestone Performing Arts Centre, which stretch our thinking beyond the conventional notions of adaptability. The authors reveal the many conditions that make it a complex design phenomenon, by considering the purpose, design and business case of buildings as well as the physical product.

This article emphasizes Design for Adaptability (DfAD) as a disruptive design alternative on the rise, aiming to comprehend to what extent design strategies from two lenses relate. The first focus on a theoretical investigation of Adaptability in Human Architecture and the description of adaptable design strategies (DS) released by the Adaptable Futures Research Group. The second is inspired by the field of Biomimicry, exploring adaptable design strategies in Animal Architecture (DSN). Therefore, as both strategies are intimately related, it positioned an understanding of DfAD as a Biomimicry design practice to be applied in Architecture to maximize a building’s future performance. Finally, a Letter to Young Architects and Designers in Support of DfAD was launched.

A relatively neglected aspect of sustainable development is the creation of an enduring built environment that can be adapted to suit changing circumstances. This presents a significant challenge: how to evaluate a building’s adaptability. The premise is introduced that adaptability is enhanced through the use of analytical tools which can provide better control of the building’s system architecture that enables easier, and less costly, user-driven adaptations. More specifically it investigates what a dependency structure matrix (DSM), a square (N N) matrix-based model that visualizes the relationships between elements within a system, can reveal about the capacity for an industrialized building to accommodate change, through clustering and impact analyses. Clustering analysis attempts to assess the system architecture on generic principles of change by organizing it into discrete modules, while the impact analysis examines propagation in 30 change scenarios by tracing dependencies
within the DSM. Feasibility assessments of the scenarios are compared with the knowledge of a system expert. The results indicate the DSM analysis provided insights beyond the intuition of the system expert regarding change propagation, while the system expert’s knowledge of component characteristics and overall composition of the building proved beyond the capacity of the DSM. Additional conclusions are drawn from the case study regarding DSM construction and the analytical process.

This paper reconceptualises the politics of design as a flat collective of evolving and transformative connections examining how the adaptability of the proposed design might be better understood.

This paper explores the adaptability of buildings in Japan from the perspective of three distinct practice typologies:large general contractors, large architectural design firms, and small design ateliers. The paper illustrates the cultivation of adaptability in Japan revealing a maturing of concepts into current innovations, trends, priorities, and obstacles in relation to adaptability in design. The paper contextualizes the situation by reviewing the evolution of residential development in support of building adaptability, and the ways in which these policies and concepts have shaped practice and transcended residential design. This evolution is then explored through non-residential case studies undertaken by the three practice types, and supported through a review of critical themes emerging from the interviews. The importance of particular physical characteristics are examined including storey height, location of services, planning modules and structural spacing/spans. The interviews expose the critical relationship between adaptability and different social variables – the state of the market, the role of planning regulations and other legal frameworks; as well as, the misconceptions and variations in the perceptions on the role and meaning adaptability has in practice. The paper is concluded by revealing the lessons learnt, including the unfolding of dependencies outside the ‘black box’ of adaptability (e.g. practice culture, material and, stakeholder mindsets) and the requirement of effective communication of concepts to allow an informed conversation between professionals and with clients and users. Like many other philosophical design concepts in complex processes, adaptability benefits from a mutual understanding, good relationships, communication, integration, and shared goals amongst team members.

This paper looks at change from the perspective of building design (i.e. building adaptability), and how a better understanding of product architecture can bring about an easier accommodation of change for an unforeseeable future. The work explores the use of a design structure matrix (DSM) to understand the building’s capacity to accommodate change using building decomposition methods (Brand’s layers) and component interactions as initial guides to suggest possible product architectures.  Research for this study took place along side the design stage of an ongoing BSF school project. The systematic analysis of design drawings and reports was undertaken in three phases: code documents using Brand’s layers; identify all variant components to create a work breakdown structure; and classification of all component relationships populating a DSM. Simple principles, such as achieving modularity between component dependencies, can potentially reveal the implication of changing components. Insights that have been gained through the data include the appropriate layer placement of components, the possibilities of new/ different layers, and the highlighting of unwanted/ hidden dependencies. The DSM permutations have also provided a deeper understanding of the software used and its algorithmic behavior, giving greater clarity of the organization of the components, and the development of component typologies in an effort to provide a consistent, logical approach to refining the matrix.

In an age of sustainability focussed on the short term of carbon reduction, it is important that we maintain an understanding of the broader characteristics which make places sustainable over the longevity of time. Adaptability as a design characteristic embodies spatial, structural, and service strategies which allow the physical artefact a level of malleability in response to changing operational parameters over time. This paper starts by reviewing definitions of adaptability in the literature and sets forth a holistic definition, coalescing essential characteristics through a critical analysis. The following two sections contextualize the conversation about adaptability through two distinct approaches for achieving it along with its
current perception. Subsequently, the paper subdivides adaptability into a set of strategies which provide a comprehensive resolution for describing the different types of changes a building may be forced to endure. The last segment then examines the relationship between the Open Building movement and our findings regarding adaptability. We conclude with some provocations towards the open building movement and industry shifting towards a more sustainable and time-based approach to design.

Japanese traditional wooden houses are a good example of system architecture (Fukao 1987). Originating from Chinese temple construction, the housing is based on the distance between column centres known as a ken. Both the widths and depths of all spaces were multiples of this standard unit and formed the frame of reference for the remaining components – timber structure, tatami mats, doors, and even furniture (Hirai, 1998). Modern housing (particularly post-WWII, during a national
shortage) moved away from this type of construction in an effort towards mass production. In the mid-70s, when the number of houses surpassed the number of households, a shift occurred from focusing on quantity to quality, and the emphasize returned to a more systemic approach in the context of the industrialized era inspired by a systems approach to schools in the UK (CLASP) and the US (SCSD).
Several projects arose led by KEP (Koden Experimental Housing Projects), but it wasn’t until 1980, and the start of The Century Housing System (CHS) that a national campaign took place in an attempt to coordinate all of the previous efforts into a single system (Utida, 1983).

This paper presents the current thinking of Adaptable Futures research group based at Loughborough University through a series of diagrams. The aim of the Adaptable Futures project is to facilitate the development of adaptable buildings through research and real-life application. The investigation looks to make clear Adaptability as a definable design characteristic with a principle consciousness towards time and layers.

This paper builds on the introductory paper (Schmidt et al., 2008) submitted for the 2008 DSM conference.  This investigation looks to make clear adaptability as a definable design characteristic with a principle consciousness towards time and layers.
Time – the design consideration that buildings are dynamic systems that interact with a set of evolving endogenous and exogenous demands that require a capacity to accommodate change (space, function, and componentry) over time.
Layers – the design consideration regarding the organization and interfaces between components of varying life spans and functions.
As a result, adaptability increases the capacity for change over time while reducing the efforts and expenditures to do so through the way the building is designed, increasing the longevity (i.e. sustainability) of our built stock. This represents a fundamental change in the way we perceive our buildings and the composition of them as static constructions to dynamic systems.

As a society we suffer from the inclination to ignore the causes of problems and instead deal with the effects; this disposition to find a ‘remedy’ rather than a prevention bolsters our tendency to resist change. The current challenge which besieges the resilient construction industry, sustainability, finds a remedy on a project basis by lionizing buildings rather than addressing the actual haphazard
construction process which continues to endure. We have instilled over time a bespoke industry of onsite construction requiring an array of sub-industries to deliver a skilled workforce and various raw materials at a particular site creating a unique prototype every time. Several influential, government back reports have argued for more joined-up production, exploiting the underlying common processes
[1].

One initiative held by the Adaptablefutures group looks to exploit the initial design chain of events to imbue adaptability into the building’s lifecycle. This group is working with GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), a multi-national pharmaceutical company, to address their need to cut the construction time of their facilities from 24 months to 13 weeks. This project, Newways, looks to redefine the overall method of how buildings are assembled by standardizing all elements and creating a catalogue from which to design.

This paper explores the business case for designing more adaptable buildings, an issue that has, for the most part, been overlooked in the literature. It reviews some of the existing literature on adaptability and discusses the drivers for and barriers to designing buildings that are more adaptable. In doing so, it draws upon lessons from the developing market for ‘greener’ or more sustainable buildings. The costs and benefits of designing more adaptable buildings are explored through a workshop with industry stakeholders and illustrated with evidence from case studies. The findings of this research highlight the circumstances that would need to change, in terms of industry mindsets and market conditions, in order for adaptable buildings to become more widespread.

Economic evaluation is a significant consideration in the initiation of a facility. This evaluation process should take into account all costs, benefits and performance associated with a facility in its through life cycle. There are a number of techniques available for economic evaluation, however, the practical application is poor in most of the techniques. Whole Life Analysis (WLA) is identified as a comprehensive approach for economic evaluation. At present there is a growing trend towards designing buildings to be more adaptable within the UK property market. Hence, economic evaluation of adaptable buildings needs to be undertaken as early as possible for appropriate long term decisions. This paper examines the paradigm shift required for a WLA approach for adaptable buildings while identifying the benefits and barriers of its practical application. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken to analyse how WLA could be used as a decision support technique for adaptable buildings. Literature reveals WLA as one of the best decision support techniques for use in the building industry, and it seems logical to adopt it for adaptable buildings. However, detailed economic evaluation remains an untapped area within adaptable buildings. Being involved in the ‘Adaptable Futures’ research project at Loughborough University, the authors have blended their thoughts with available literature and attempt to identify how important in undertaking WLA is for an adaptable facility while identifying the barriers of current applications. Stakeholder input is crucial towards the betterment of WLA particularly concerning its understanding and application in adaptable buildings.

The existing building stock in most countries does not meet the parameters of economic, social and environmental sustainability. Physical, functional, technological, economical, social and legal obsolescence are the principal factors driving the decommissioning, refurbishment, alteration and/or adaptation of a building. In the UK the Government promotes optimum use of the existing building stock through mixed use in urban centers and encourages conversion of redundant office and retail space into leisure, service and/or residential uses rather than demolition and renewal. There is therefore a growing need to design new buildings that are adaptable and flexible over their life span whilst at the same time improving user
satisfaction. A constraint to the implementation of a policy of life span adaptability is the difficulty of understanding the economic considerations over long time scales. This paper investigates the issues surrounding the economics of the life span of adaptable buildings, and establishes a conceptual framework for their economic sustainability.
The investigation is based on a case study of how the uses and function of the built environment and its supporting infrastructure have changed over a period of 100 years undertaken within a semi-rural Borough in England, UK. This case study includes a trend analysis identifying the life spans (of buildings), the evolving planning policies and associated social and cultural issues. A conceptual framework is developed and the economic impacts of the changes are evaluated through Whole Life Analysis. The validity and reliability of proposed framework is yet to be tested.

For many years the issue of how to design buildings which can adapt to changing demands has posed a considerable challenge. This debate has had renewed significance given the emergence of the sustainability agenda and the need to extract additional value from built assets through life. Developing a better understanding of how buildings change over time is arguably crucial to informing architects concerned with extending the life of buildings. This paper critically reviews literature on adaptability, together with that relating to knowledge feedback and architectural practice, in order to construct a theoretical platform for understanding how knowledge of how buildings change can be used to inform design decisions. A pilot case study is used to illustrate the ways in which buildings change could be captured to inform adaptable designs in the future. The work reveals a lack of knowledge in how buildings change and how, if this was fed back to architects, it could support design decisions that might increase the life of many buildings.

For many years the issue of how to design buildings which can adapt to changing demands has posed a considerable challenge. This debate has had renewed significance given the emergence of the sustainability agenda and the need to extract additional value from built assets through life. Developing a better understanding of how buildings change over time is arguably crucial to informing architects concerned with extending the life of buildings. This paper critically reviews literature on adaptability, together with that relating to knowledge feedback and architectural practice, in order to construct a theoretical platform for understanding how knowledge of how buildings change can be used to inform design decisions. A pilot case study is used to illustrate the ways in which buildings change could be captured to inform adaptable designs in the future. The work reveals a lack of knowledge in how buildings change and how, if this was fed back to architects, it could support design decisions that might increase the life of many buildings.

The UK government has committed itself to demanding CO2 reduction targets. There is an expectation that significant carbon savings can be achieved in the construction and operation of buildings through the application of low carbon technologies.  Current concentration on low carbon technologies to reduce operational energy requirements has overlooked the less significant gains possible in embodied energy.  However, as gains in operational energy reduction are realised, embodied energy of the construction, maintenance, refurbishment and disposal cycle will become increasingly important in making further progress. In this position paper we suggest that the adaptable building agenda could complement the low carbon agenda by providing a vehicle for the reconciliation of the various facets of low carbon policy. This includes taking account of the need to reduce embodied energy, as buildings which are rendered obsolete significantly before their intended design life, or fail to adapt to increasing carbon reduction performance requirements, cannot be considered sustainable. There remains a need to explore to what extent these agendas, of adaptable, long life buildings and a low carbon society, are mutually beneficial and supporting, and the what extent they can be seen as competing and mutually exclusive.

The future is uncertain – the present must be adaptable. The Loughborough University IMCRC Building Brands pilot project has shown that optimum built environment solutions, whether branded or not, must be adaptable. In other words they must be able to be changed over their life cycle to adapt to changing needs of the end users. This is a key component of the sustainability ‘3-Rs’ of reduce, reuse, recycle and responds to the 1:5:35 ratio which drives the need for buildings to remain efficient places to live and work in order to ensure real life-cycle value for money. Adaptability is important pre-construction and re-configurability throughout the life cycle. This paper discusses preliminary results from this pilot project and lays out the challenges to be addressed by subsequent work. The paper develops concepts discussed at the 2006 Adaptables Conference in Delft (Davison et al, 2006).

This paper describes the findings and lessons learnt from three adaptable non-residential buildings, as part of the Adaptable Futures research project, at Loughborough University, UK. In each case the business needs of adaptability, technical features of the buildings to enable these and changes achieved during the lifecycle are presented.  The buildings range from industrial to offices and two of them were designed to be adaptable from the start. The Igus Factory design approach –a totally flexible manufacturing plant in Germany- has facilitated the client’s long-term plans increasing by four its floor area over a period of 17 years. The Civil & Building Engineering Department of Loughborough University in the UK was designed as a universal adaptable precast concrete building able to change to varying uses and be extended, however, when the expansion was needed -40 years later- a completely different solution was adopted. At last, the refurbishment of Silk Street offices -in central London, UK- is a good example of how to improve adaptability in an existing building to facilitate frequent changes. All those examples have been studied to identify strategies and design criteria to which adaptable buildings should respond.

This paper looks at adaptability of buildings in Japan from the perspective of six companies, which represent three distinct practice typologies. Two cases were studied from each typology: large general contractors, large architectural design firms, and small design ateliers. The paper begins by contextualizing the situation in Japan by presenting a lineage of initiatives by the Japanese government. Subsequently, we present the findings from exploratory interviews and discuss how they can inform future comparative studies between the UK and Japan. The interviews reveal current innovations, trends, priorities, and obstacles within each practice in relation to adaptability in design, particularly of offices. The importance of certain physical characteristics and current solutions are examined such as storey height, location of services, planning modules, and structural spacing/spans. The interviewees acknowledge the critical relationship adaptability has with the state of the market, the role planning regulations and other laws serve as obstacles towards adaptability, and misconceptions/variations of the role and meaning adaptability has in practice. These issues are examined and the paper concludes by reflecting on the role and the dilemma of the designer, as both an individual actor and as a practice when dealing with adaptability.

Typical monographs on design practice showcase the architect’s generative concept sketch along with drawings and images of a final asset, but very little attention is paid to the environment within which creativity and innovation takes place. As such, the role of the practice environment and culture in shaping design innovation is often
downplayed in comparison to the designer’s agency which is usually given primacy over other influences. This paper presents a research framework and early findings of research which explored the culture of three design practices to gain fuller insights into their role in shaping design innovation. The particular focus is on the design of
adaptable buildings, the development of which demands innovative design practices which challenge much of the traditional design orthodoxy associated with modern buildings. It examines to what extent certain tools, mindsets, and interactions play a role in shaping design outcomes, and explores how decisions are made, by whom, and at what point in the process. This comparative approach helps to reveal the different levels of organizational culture which enable creative solutions to burgeon. On the basis of these findings, a set of provocations are proffered for encouraging designers to think about the way in which they innovate and frame their design interaction and decision making.

UK government Policy Planning Guidance promotes optimum use of the existing building stock through mixed use in urban centres and encourages conversion of redundant office and retail space into leisure, service or residential uses. Whilst social pressures are evident in the push to more effectively utilise existing building stock, new building stock also has to meet the commercial requirements of the client, which often translates into maximum occupancy of the building. This is encouraging greater innovation in the design of new buildings to allow change of use throughout the structure’s lifetime. This paper describes the concepts surrounding an adaptable design for new buildings, along with a review of factors influencing the mode of use. The major physical parameters
of storey height, building proximity, plan depth, structural design, services, fire safety, cladding and noise abatement are evaluated in the context of adaptable building use.
In addition to improved building utilisation, the UK government has identified a weakness in the productivity of the construction industry. The report ‘Rethinking Construction’ (Egan, 1998) suggested that up to 80% of inputs into buildings are repeated and that parallels should be drawn with the designing and planning of new cars in the automotive sector. This suggests that improvements in quality, cost and delivery time of new structures could be achieved through mass-customisation incorporating a significant element of pre-design.

Currently the majority of buildings are designed and constructed as bespoke creations to suit a particular use at a certain time, with little thought for the future. The Adaptable Futures project, introduced in this paper, aims to facilitate the development of adaptable buildings in the UK that take account of an often uncertain future. This paper gives a brief overview of the project and then goes on to describe the two industrial case studies being used as the main sources of data collection for the project. These are a pre-configured concept, Newways, developed by Pharmaceutical organization, GSK, and a re-configurable concept, Multispace, created by architects 3DReid. Findings from a recent workshop looking at adaptable buildings are then presented.

This chapter explores Designing for Adaptability and Sustainability (DfAS) in the context of Critical Regionalism in Northeast Brazil, through a literature review and a detailed case study investigation of a contemporary residential project. The analysis was based on three connected lenses for discussion – 1. the regional/traditional: according to Armando de Holanda’s guidelines (1976) for climate adequation to the sunny tropic; 2. the adaptable: by Schmidt and Austin’s (2016) analytical framework; and 3. the sustainable, relying on the three main pillars of sustainability and basic computational simulations. The findings reveal synergies between traditional long-established building features and contemporary solutions in safeguarding the residence’s future performance, including the creation of shadowed areas, the perforation of the façades, open plan layouts and the usage of local and standard elements. Finally, the chapter summarizes four Brazilian Northeast lessons for architectural practice in the region considering both physical, spatial, human-comfort and psychological aspects.

The existing building stock in most countries does not meet the parameters of economic, social and environmental sustainability. Physical, functional, technological, economical, social and legal obsolescence are the principal factors driving the decommissioning, refurbishment, alteration and/or adaptation of a building. In the UK the Government promotes optimum use of the existing building stock through mixed use in urban centers and encourages conversion of redundant office and retail space into leisure, service and/or residential uses rather than demolition and renewal. There is therefore a growing need to design new buildings that are adaptable and flexible over their life span whilst at the same time improving user
satisfaction. A constraint to the implementation of a policy of life span adaptability is the difficulty of understanding the economic considerations over long time scales. This paper investigates the issues surrounding the economics of the life span of adaptable buildings, and establishes a conceptual framework for their economic sustainability.
The investigation is based on a case study of how the uses and function of the built environment and its supporting infrastructure have changed over a period of 100 years undertaken within a semi-rural Borough in England, UK. This case study includes a trend analysis identifying the life spans (of buildings), the evolving
planning policies and associated social and cultural issues. A conceptual framework is developed and the economic impacts of the changes are evaluated through Whole Life Analysis. The validity and reliability of proposed framework is yet to be tested.

Building Schools for the Future is a U.K. government initiative to create schools that accommodate the changing demands of their users. The project guides designers and contractors through illustrative examples and best practices, rather than prescriptive rules, describing how the building could accommodate change.  Thus, the initiative relies on designer intuition to understand the dependencies between components and the physical implications of future scenarios.  In collaboration with the developer on the project, the Adaptable Futures research group at Loughborough University (Schmidt III et al., 2009a) used a DSM to capture designer decisions and feed back “hidden” design dependencies as part of the iterative design process.

Chapter 1 explored the forces and pace of change facing organisations and the implications for those responsible for managing their buildings. This chapter looks in more detail at the relationship between buildings and change, and examines how this relationship can be managed. In doing so, it provides a foundation for Chapter 3, which looks at how we can prepare for possible scenarios based on change readiness.

This chapter begins by looking at way in which buildings can be a catalyst or constraint to change, both physically and symbolically. It then goes on to look at the impact of changing expectations on building performance and how this is manifested in terms of obsolescence (the operational costs and constraints borne by occupiers) and depreciation (the reduction in rental income and capital values experienced by building owners).

The third and fourth parts of this chapter discusses two inter-related strategies for coping with changing user expectations: designing buildings for adaptability and adaptive re-use. This chapter concludes by discussing the implications of obsolescence, depreciation and adaptability for facilities managers and the importance of maintaining a feedback-loop between facilities management and design.

This chapter reports on research exploring the adaptability of complex, framed, non-domestic buildings, through both academic research at Loughborough and practical real-life applications such as GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Newways preconfiguration strategy. Newways is the development of an on-demand delivery supply-chain of mass-customised operational facilities, capable of deploying assets into GSK up to eight times faster than existing processes.