Residents' views on adaptable housing: A virtual reality-based study

Housing adaptability is often said to be a characteristic that benefits the residents. But is there an actual demand from residents? This study asks whether and what kind of value residents place on adaptable housing. The research, situated in Finland, combines interviews involving seven varied households together with their experiences of adaptable flats in a 3D CAVE immersive virtual reality environment. The participants were first interviewed about their current life, housing situations and expected future changes in household composition or housing needs. For the virtual viewings, flats with systematically transformable floor plans were designed to anticipate situations that could occur during people’s housing careers (e.g. the birth of a child, working from home, a child leaving home, additional healthcare, etc.). The participants walked through virtual flats selected for them based on the first interview. Afterwards, they were re-interviewed, focusing on the value they place on the presented adaptability. All households identified functional benefits for their current or anticipated situation, and many expressed a willingness to buy a home with the demonstrated adaptability characteristics. Most also described economic security that adaptability provides (e.g. renting or selling a part of the flat separately) and the benefits of remaining long term in a flat.