Understanding how improved feedback to architects can support the design of more adaptable buildings

Buildings will always need to change over time to accommodate the irresolute demands of its users. It is also suggested that the more conducive to change a building is, the longer it will remain useful, making it inherently more sustainable. The importance of designing buildings to be adaptable has been discussed for many years; however, 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. However, buildings are usually designed and built to fit a specific purpose for a particular moment in time, defined in a financially strict brief, proposed by a client that is generally not an expert in the built environment and then infrequently analysed once in use. It is suggested that architect’s tend to ignore past buildings and the lessons that could be learnt from them, to concentrate on new projects, this is generally due to lack of time, financial constraints and that current forms of feedback are not conducive to architects learning. It is proposed that if architects were to learn about how buildings change over time, that they could make better informed design decisions with regards to the adaptability of buildings. [Continues.]