Beadle, K; Gibb, A; Austin, S; Fuster, A and Madden, P (2008) Adaptable futures: Sustainable aspects of adaptable buildings. In: Dainty, A (ed.) Proceedings of 24th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2008, Cardiff, UK.
Abstract
The research described in this paper addresses buildings that are designed to adapt in response to the changing parameters of our rapidly evolving society. These changes might be social, environmental or economic, all elements of sustainability, but they will affect the way we construct and use buildings. At the moment the majority of buildings are designed and constructed to suit a particular use at a certain time, with no thought for the future. The research focuses on two specific types of adaptable buildings, those that are pre-configured and those that can be re-configured through their lifetime and it aims to facilitate the development of adaptable buildings in the UK. Two case studies are being examined to enable this; a pre-configured components systems, Newways, envisaged by GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and BWM (Bryden Wood McLeod) and a reconfigurable building concept, Multispace, designed by 3DReid. This paper will pay particular attention to the sustainability aspects of these two case studies. These, as well as other examples of adaptable buildings, will be investigated during the research through action research, interviews, focus groups, workshops, scenario models, literature review and Dependency Structure Matrix analysis. The research aims to: identify design criteria that adaptable building should adhere to; create novel product architecture models; optimise the configuration of components and systems; and invent cost-effective building systems and technologies that provide the required levels of adaptability. This paper concludes that sustainability is a vital part of adaptable buildings and that both sustainability and adaptability are becoming more important with the ever changing construction industry. Results presented from a workshop undertaken as part of the research highlight the sustainability of different aspects of adaptable buildings, focusing on their economic, environmental and social features.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | adaptability; lifecycle; pre-configuration; re-configuration; sustainability |
| Index terms: | lifecycle, configuration, adaptability, adaptable building, building system, sustainability aspect, construction industry, product architecture model, action research, becoming, focus group, workshop, matrix analysis, case study, society, interview, literature review, wood |
| Subjects: | modelling and simulation, project delivery, data science, data analysis and analytics, user focus, data collection methods, construction type, engineering systems, systems engineering, philosophical process, communities and social development, industry analysis, traditional and composite building materials, sustainability assessment |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Construction Technology, Sustainability, Project Management, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Engineering Principles, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here