Change: Exploring Psychological & Sociological Constructs in the Quest for Agile Architecture & Environmental DesignChange: Exploring Psychological & Sociological Constructs in the Quest for Agile Architecture & Environmental Design

Architecture and environmental design in our modern world proves intensely complex, driven in part through remarkable advancements in technology, in part through escalating regulatory demands, and in part by dramatic shifts in demographics, expectations and needs. Designers and developers of projects, across a range of scales, struggle to ensure relevancy, viability, potency and sustainability. To achieve such ends the exploration and application of Open Building theories and practices proves increasingly important. In reaction to static and immutable conventional environments (e.g., interiors, buildings, landscapes, etc.) Open Building and Agile Architecture methods foster a milieu of flexibility, modularity, prefabrication, adaptability and change. The critical notion of change has many dimensions, including key qualities that take account of the technological and material ethos. While the vast majority of research efforts have focused on scientific, technical and quantitative characteristics of Open Building, this paper argues that human aspects, and qualitative features, and particularly those social and psychological, are equally essential. In order for Agile Architecture to be more fully accepted, embraced and executed it is imperative that scientific/quantitative and human/qualitative facets of projects be examined, promoted and addressed in concert. A building deemed green through a checklist may fail if it is not enjoyed and accepted by users. In a similar vein, a project that embraces mutability and affords flexibility on a technical level may fail if users and stakeholders are incapable of acting, unwilling to consider, or disinterested in realizing change. Cognitive dissonance and psychological barriers, for example, may hamper a user's readiness to transform space. NIMBYism and cynicism, for example and in the sense of the surrounding community, can likewise limit realization of more agile buildings. For Open Building and Agile Architecture to progress, there must be intense focus on a broader array of variables that, at the end of the day, prove essential to heightened acceptance, advancement and deployment. Psychology and sociology are key factors in the equation for appropriate, potent and sustainable environments. Technology matters. Above all, however, people matter