Change Factors and the Adaptability of Buildings

John M. Kamara, Oliver Heidrich, Vincenza E. Tafaro, Sebastiano Maltese, Mario C. Dejaco and Fulvio Re Cecconi
Additional contact information
John M. Kamara: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Oliver Heidrich: School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Vincenza E. Tafaro: Arcus Consulting, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE28 9NZ, UK
Sebastiano Maltese: Institute for Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, 6952 Canobbio, Switzerland
Mario C. Dejaco: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133-I Milano, Italy
Fulvio Re Cecconi: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133-I Milano, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: The adaptability of buildings addresses the responses of buildings to the changing needs of owners/users and the demands of external factors, over their lifecycle. An understanding of these changes is therefore key to the creation of adaptable buildings. This paper reports research which was aimed at modelling building changes to better understand the challenges for their adaptability. An in-depth study of the changes in selected case studies was conducted to understand the nature, characteristics, and implications of these changes for buildings and their ability to adapt. The findings from these case studies were analyzed against theoretical models reported in the literature on change and adaptability. As a result, a model was developed that identified and categorized a wide spectrum of changes to the building fabric within the broad remit of adaptability that are triggered by many factors, which are sometimes external to the building or organization. In the cases investigated, it was found that the factors that lead to actual changes to buildings were not necessarily due to the ease of making those changes, but rather the organizational will and means to make the changes. Similarly, changes were made not because the building systems were obsolete, but because of non-building factors. The timings of changes therefore did not correspond to the assumed lifespan models of different building layers, suggesting that a new way of predicting and/or categorizing building changes is needed. Furthermore, the interrelationships and nature of the triggers for change suggest that the adaptability of buildings is not just about building systems, but also about non-building factors. Thus, the further exploration of non-building triggers and enablers for change using the developed model presented here, will further enhance the creation of more adaptable buildings.

Keywords: adaptability; buildings; change factors; enablers; modelling; triggers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6585/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6585/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6585-:d:398961

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().