flexible housing paper

8/7/2019 flexible housing paper

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1.INTRODUCTION

Flexibility is defined as the ability to change and adapt a building to altered

activities through its physical and administrative environment

The degree of flexibility is determined in two ways. First the in-built opportunity for

adaptability, defined as capable of different social uses, and second the

opportunity for flexibility, defined as capable of different physical

arrangements. This principle of enabling social and physical change in housing

might appear self evidently sensible.

A number of buildings are renewed, and adapted, to new activities . In the

former case, it is of financial consequence that buildings can be adapted to

new requirements without extensive, technically complex and expensive

measures. The question of flexibility has been highlighted because, for example,

an increasing number of schools are rebuilt to meet changing needs. Another

example is the shift from pre-school to group accommodation for geriatrics.

Costs can be reduced if buildings are amenable to adaptation without recourse

to extensive works. From a socio-economic perspective, there are advantages

in more flexible buildings, where building life span can be extended significantly.

The tendency to design buildings that only correspond to a specific type of

household at a specific point in time reflects a way of thinking that is predicated

on short term economics. Flexibility in buildings is controlled by various decisions.

In every investment, an active or passive decision is made to control flexibility.

The conditions that enable decision-support and the individuals responsible for

those decisions are critical aspects.

This paper deals with aspects that help build greater understanding of the

processes that control changes in buildings towards future flexible buildings. We

discuss factors influencing flexibility in buildings. These are both tangible and

intangible in nature, but we learn that a balance has to be achieved betweenthem to make the building a successful venture.


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Developments in the building sector show a number of trends all of which point

to the growing importance of flexibility in buildings and the installations

concerned. Such as:

The long life cycle of buildings compared to the short life cycle of itsfunctions

The vacancy of buildings because they dont longer meet the presentrequirements.

The same problem occurs with churches, old schools and ware houses. Another trend is the rapid change of user demands compared to the slow

changing possibilities of buildings

Flexibility in regard to change in markets, whether in product, demand or

distribution, allows an organization to make the adjustments necessary to remain

relevant and efficient. Flexibility requires a commitment to creating an

organizational structure that permits a quick response to change. It also

demands a commitment to quick decision-making and the reallocation of

resources. Not every organization is able to do this.

Adaptable, recyclable and sustainable buildings will be major criteria in

assessing future buildings.Adaptable housing units are designed in such a way as they are, or can be

easily modified in the future to become, accessible to both occupants and

visitors with disabilities or progressive disabilities.

Among the factors that play a role here are saving of base materials, minimizing

waste production, ease of dismantling and adaptability. Clearly, flexible

buildings that are really adaptable to changing conditions respond to this trend.

Inflexibility means that once the users needs change, as inevitably they do, the

occupants have no choice but to move. This keeps the housing market in astate of permanent demand. If flexibility were built in, occupants would be able

to adapt their houses and so stay longer in them; this would depress the housing

market and limit the continuing sales on which developers depend


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2. FLEXIBILITY KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Partitionabilityis judged by the parameters for Distribution (supply andremoval), Conversion (central unit or supply system), Transfer (of

installation functions), Measurement (consumption) and Control (use).

Adaptabilityis judged by the Disconnectibility of the various installationcomponents (plug-in connections), the Accessibility of components

(distribution networks, zoning) and the Adjustability of measurement and

control facilities.

Extendibilityis judged by the Capacity and Dimensions of facilities fordistribution, conversion (central unit), measurement and control, and the

Location and structure of distribution networks.

Multifunctionalityis judged by the number of Integrated functions indistribution facilities and in facilities for supply, use, measurement and

control, and the extent to which the various components are universal

(projectindependent).


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3.Identifying flexibility factors

Material standardsMaterials with a life suitable for both existing and future activities create flexibility

in buildings. Choice of material affects the life of the whole building and

adapting the material to suit both current and future activities gives added

value

3.1. Production

Today prefabrication plays an important role in construction industry.

Prefabrication means that all or parts of a building are made in factories and

brought to the building site ready to be assembled (Ballard and Arbulu, 2004).

Compared with the earlier construction methods, these modern building

techniques have become more flexible regarding the techniques of

manufacturing.

3.2. Planning for future changes and service life

A plan for the lifetime of the building drawn up during initial design should

provide increased flexibility (Moravek, 1996). Future planning determines the

possible future functions to which a building can be adapted. Current buildingsare regulated by a number of laws and guidelines, but over the course of time

these will change or be amended. A building often has a long service life. Over

time the laws that applied when it was built may have changed. It may then be

that future rebuilding will experience problems with new laws and guidelines.

3.3. Installations

Modern installations generally take up more space than was required a few

decades ago. With regard to flexibility and installations the problem arises

because of difficulty in changing installations (Apleberger et al., 2005).

3.4. Financial aspects

Increased flexibility creates increased value during rebuilding, but also

increased initial cost (Greden, 2005). However, a study shows that flexible

solutions increase the initial production cost by an average of less than 2 per

cent, which can be saved directly during the first renovation. The financial factor

has the second strongest affect on flexibility.


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Ref:FACTORS INFLUENCING FLEXIBILITY IN

BUILDINGS

3.5. Awareness aspects

The term awareness is taken to mean that users, property-owners and builders

are aware that the building is subject to change. In the event that any one ofthem is unaware of the opportunity of adapting and changing the building is

static. The aim of flexible thinking assumes that the interested parties take

account of the planned or implemented adaptation potential of the building.

This factor is rated as having the strongest affect on flexibility.

The aspects of awareness, finance,

and installations affect flexibility

the most, while future planning,

production and material standards

have lesser affect on the flexibility.

But the fact is that all aspects are

significantly affecting flexibility.

Figure 1 shows a separation between the six factors,

three soft ones (awareness aspects, finance and

future planning) and three hard ones (material standards, production and

installations). The hard aspects are named hard because they are all directly.

connected to the building. The soft aspects are called soft because they are

not

directly connected to the building.


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4. SOFT & HARD TECHNOLOGYSoft refers to tactics which allow a certain indeterminacy, whereas hard refers

to elements that more specifically determine the way that the design may be

used. In terms of use it may appear a contradiction that flexibility can be

achieved through being either very indeterminate in plan form or else very

determinate, but historically both approaches have developed in parallel

throughout the twentieth century.

4.1.SOFT USE

Soft use generally demands more space, even some redundancy, and is based

on a relaxed approach to both planning and technology, whereas hard use is

generally employed where space is at a premium and a room has to be

multifunctional.

If one approach to soft use depends on the designer providing a physically

fixed, but socially flexible, layout, a more common solution is to provide raw

space that can then be divided according to the needs of the occupants.

Soft technology is the stuff that enables flexible housing to unfold in a mannernot completely controlled by the foreground of construction techniques. The

notion of soft space lends itself in particular to a participative approach to

design, allowing a degree of tenant control at both design stages and over the

life of the building. manner.

4.2. Hard use

The hard use is use that is largely determined by the architect. To this extent

hard use is consistent with the typical desire of the architect to keep control,

and it is therefore maybe not surprising that hard use is associated with some ofthe twentieth centurys iconic architects.

Hard technology

By hard technologies we mean those technologies that are developed

specifically to achieve flexibility, and which are the determining feature of the

scheme.


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BUILDINGS

5. IDENTIFYING DECISION-MAKERS FOR FLEXIBILITY.

Property owners

Property owners are the ones who have the most to gain from a flexible building,

but only where they do not intend to dispose of the property before a changetakes place. In that case, they have a marketing advantage over those with

inflexible buildings. The behaviour of property owners affects decisions

regarding the degree of flexibility. In most cases, property owners make the

assessment as to whether or not the building will be changed. Assessment of

building changes is done on the basis of conditions such as supply, demand,

and opportunities for change, financial attitude and opportunity for increased

efficiency.

ArchitectsArchitects have a great opportunity to affect flexibility in a building. An architect

is to perform the design of buildings, and will then visually illustrate how a

building will be used. This means that in cases where the architect feels that the

building will probably change use in the future to something other than that

initially envisaged, he or she are to ensure that the function of a building is also

suitable for future activities through their designs. Architects can therefore act as

decision-makers to affect flexibility in buildings.


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Contractors

There may be decision-makers by the contractors whom via various decisionscan affect the level of flexibility in the buildings they produce. These parties

could for example be the CEO who has the roles of a company-wide strategic

decision maker. The overhead decisions can affect further decisions on the

adaptability of the buildings. It is not unusual that decision-makers in the

contractor companies participate in the development of industry wide

standards that affect the production of buildings. The result shows that building

company has little influence over flexibility in a building in comparisons with the

other factors.

Authorities

Authorities also affect flexibility. National and municipal decision-makers affect

flexibility through overall legal and strategic decisions. In new production and

major rebuilding, the design of the building is always examined in various ways

to ensure safety and accessibility, and the public has the opportunity to affect

the decision. In these decisions, flexibility in buildings is affected.

As an example, it is a legal duty to provide handicapped access in all newly

constructed and renovated buildings, this rather new aspect was hard to

foresee only 15 years ago. This means that in major reconstruction there is a

requirement for increased accessibility. This decision can make a building that

previously was capable of being changed no longer flexible but static.

Rebuilding becomes more expensive than previously because of a legal impact

or regulations enforced by authorities.

Project manager

The decisions of individual project managers can also affect flexibility in

buildings, in that theirchoices and attitudes produce different outcomes in termsof the opportunity for change in the building. The individual project managers

make decisions, or affect them, and in this way they also affect flexibility.

Users

Users can affect flexibility in buildings when their activities change and develop,

which means that buildings also have to develop and change accordingly.

Users affecting property owners via decisions on individual activities can thus

cause property owners to make decisions concerning flexibility.


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BUILDINGS

Clients

Clients can beproperty owners,

building companies,

or other organisations

that have a financial

or other involvement

in producing a

building. Through

their financial

involvement with a building, their ability to affect the decisions to ensure futureefficiency of the buildings is increased. Clients are often the ones who initiate

the production of buildings and thus have the opportunity to affect flexibility in

the buildings they produce.

A flexible building

would be simpler

for the purchaser

to sell on than abuilding adapted

for a single

activity. Also, any

future rebuilding

should be simple

for the purchaser

through

awareness

planning.Relations

between customer and purchaser are different, based

on short or long-term relations, where all involved have

various roles.

Relations and roles mean that the opportunities for the customer or purchaser to

affect the decisionregarding flexibility vary from one project to another. Flexible

buildings are created through awareness on the part of everyone involved. A

ADAPTED BUILDING PRODUCTS ACCORDING TO THE CLIENTS

Flexibility Key Performance


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BUILDINGS

problem from an awareness angle is therefore the customers short-term

understanding of the positive aspects of a flexible building. Long-term relations

more readily reflect the awareness aspects where the relations betweenpurchaser and executor are based on understanding and more well defined

roles. Awareness aspects have different effects depending on the design of the

project and who is involved, but overall it is flexibility in buildings that seems to

have the most influence, which shows in the statistics.

The hard aspects are all

directly connected to the

building and therefore easy tosee as a part of the flexibility

but the soft aspects are often

disregarded in the context of

flexibility. The soft aspects are

aspects that are not directly

connected to the building and

if not included the maximum

flexibility can only reach 44 per

cent.

There is a lack of knowledge and a lack of awareness in the area of flexibility.

They need to be aware of, who the decision-makers are, what the nature of the

decisions are, and which governing factors that affect the flexibility are.


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6. CASE STUDY

URBA PROJECT: DEVELOPING NEW URBAN HOUSINGCONCEPTS

IN THE HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA

The housing market in the Helsinki area is narrow and one-sided in more ways

than one. The market is lacking in flexibility, which has a negative effect on the

competitiveness of the region. There is a constant shortage of reasonably priced

dwellings for a number of target groups. The ideal of home-ownership

predominates, and the supply of rental dwellings is insufficient. In times offluctuating economic conditions, the acquisition of a dwelling for a short period

of time, if only for a couple of years, is a risky proposition. For example,

an expert moving temporarily to the area with his/her family from abroad

is in trouble. The housing market operates almost exclusively in the Finnish

language. There is a marked shortage of dwellings for rent and of services for

moving and adapting to new conditions.

Urban living and the production of new dwellings are both in need of

greater flexibility, because the population in the capital region is more

heterogeneous than average. Differences in income and social status are

greater than elsewhere.

The percentage of foreign nationals in the population is considerably higher

than elsewhere. The structure of professions is also different than in Finland

on average. There are proportionally more people than average in

supervisory or leading positions, specialists, IT professionals and

professionals in the natural sciences and in artistic professions, as well as

office and customer service.

Housing production in Finland remains predominantly in the hands of Finnish

developers, and over the decades practices have become entrenched. One

factor that explains the nature of housing policy and urban planning in Finland

is that it was first after World War II that urbanisation got under way here and

prosperity increased, and residential suburban areas were developed by

public-private partnerships. Another important factor was Finnish welfare policy

which put an emphasis on equitable housing, yet at the same time led to a lack

of diversity in industrial housing production.


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This lack of diversity in current housing production is one of the main problems in

the housing market today. The majority of new housing consists of mass

produced multi-storey residential buildings, and from the consumer's viewpointalternatives are hard to find in the market. In practice, the choice of dwelling is

dictated by location and price, which in turn largely depends on the location. In

terms of theirfloor plan, fittings and materials, new dwellings are very uniform.

Even in expensive and trendy properties that are carefully branded in view of a

particular customer group, the dwellings themselves are ordinary. In mass

customized housing areas, the buyer's possibilities to have a say in the dwelling

are generally limited to the choice of finishing materials, cabinet doors

and domestic appliances that alternatives for which have all been

decided beforehand. In the rental market, the occupant's options are even

slimmer, even though some experiments in participatory planning have been

carried out. The design of residential buildings is typically conservative. There is a

general belief that occupants want things that are safe and familiar. There is

fear that unusual solutions might scare away the customers and obstruct

the resale market later on. It is safer for the occupant to be flexible than

for an expensive dwelling. (Rask & Timonen & Vliniemi 2008.)

The Finnish housing sector, which in this context covers urban planning,

housing policy, housing production and housing market, has many actors. Theproblem is that no single actor is responsible for the overall workings of

the system, nor have any general targets been set for it anywhere.

Cooperation between different actors is infrequent and incidental. The

operating conditions of the sector are determined by the State through

legislation and norms.

Municipalities are responsible for land use policy, land use planning and

building control. Banks and investors provide funding, developers and building

companies construct, market and sell their products. The system is a

complex network of codes and nodes of intersecting interests and actors. The

key factors are economic trends, interest rates and the prevalent interests in

housing policy.

This situation may be changing, however. The global economy also affects the

Finnish housing market. The economic downturn that began in 2008 was

reflected quite rapidly in housing production in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.


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There are currently thousands of expensive, privately funded dwellings (free

from price regulation) unsold in the area. Non-subsidised housing

production has come to an almost complete standstill. The constructionsector is facing a deep recession and mass unemployment. The Finnish

housing industry has already turned to the State and the municipal sector,

asking for measures to alleviate the situation. Cities in the Helsinki

Metropolitan Area are in fact increasing the production of subsidised rental

dwellings. It will be interesting to see whether the housing industry will change

its operating approach by, for example, increasing R&D or trying out new

housing concepts.

In the URBA-project, sustainability is understood in its broad meaning referring to

environmental, social and economical dimensions.

Environmental sustainability includes dense urban structure and

infrastructure based on developed,

high standard public transport durable housing stock sustainable building materials and building performance energy-efficient buildings with low carbon release sustainable and ageless design.

Social sustainability means

possibilities to citizen participation in planning and design processes user-initiated flexibility of apartments possibility of inhabitants' self-determination high quality of life in a safe, healthy and aesthetic urban environment freedom of choice and versatility in the housing market.

Economical dimension includes

housing stock and urban structure which enable sustainableeconomic growth in the Helsinki Metropolitan area.

new actors in the fields of sustainable construction, design andassessment.


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These dimensions are emphasized in varying degrees in each of the new urban

housing concepts (introduced below in section 4.2.), which serve as a platform

for examining and testing out possible directions for developing more

sustainable housing in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

There is a need for assessment methods that take into account various

dimensions of sustainability and concrete accepted criteria so that it

becomes possible for decision makers to evaluate proposals.

The URBA research group selected five concepts for further development.

Settle-down flat (Modest or moderately priced and equipped, easy- to- get

rental apartments for transitory life situations. Target groups: newcomers,

immigrants, students, low-wage employees, temporary workers, divorcees etc.)

James serviced apartments (Centrally situated, mostly rental

apartments combined with services, such as cleaning, laundry, shopping,

walk the dog, etc. to ease everyday life. Target groups: modern city

people, 'yuppies', singles, ITC workers, people who travel a lot, etc.)

Group building and/or self-help housing (Building a house or a group ofhouses by a voluntary, non-profit group of future occupants, assisted by

professionals. The aim is a building that serves individual and/or group

needs better than an ordinary building. Target group: active inhabitants

who want to participate more than average in decisions affecting their

living environment, and are committed to participate in a demanding

planning/building process.)

Town house (An old concept that is common in many countries except for

Finland. Mostly private houses with a front door facing the street and a small(backyard) garden. Target groups: families and those who want a private

garden, but prefer urban living.)

Flexible housing user-initiated flexibility (The concept focuses on

the flexible organisation of space properly scaled for the site. The dwelling

can accommodate changes over time concerning styles of habitation and use

of space. This represents a change from function-based design thinking

towards organisation-based thinking.)


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7. FLEX HOUSING

FlexHousing is a practical approach to designing and building housing thatallows residents to convert space to meet their changing needs. Based on the

principles of adaptability, accessibility, affordability and healthy housing,

FlexHousing brings together the best of everything we know about building

houses.

Adaptability Accessibility Affordability

Adaptabilitymeans the space is designed to evolve easily as the needs of the

occupants change, and with minimal expense. For example, the Regina

demonstration house is designed to provide an extra bedroom if a caregiver is

required.

Accessibility means the home is barrier-free. Everyone benefits from an

accessible home, not just older people or people with special mobility needs.

For example, wider hallways in the Regina Healthy House make it easy to move

furniture or to use a wheelchair to get from room to room.

Affordability means that the house is relatively inexpensive to change.

Although some features may be slightly more expensive to install during

construction, their initial expense is recovered in lower renovation costs over the

long-term. Wider doorways and lower, more accessible light switches cost very

little to incorporate at the time of construction but would be much more costly

to install later.

The key to flexible housing design is considering your long-term requirements

before you build or renovate, and design with those needs in mind. Some

features are installed at the time of construction; others are built into the design

and can be inexpensively added later. The best FLEX HOUSING design also

includes the principles of Healthy Housing.


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8. CONCLUSION

Flexible buildings are created through awareness on the part of everyoneinvolved and it is therefore important to involve all actors to achieve a good

result regarding the level of flexibility. In the urge to achieve flexibility the

architects have often dwelt in the notion of gaining control over the future,

unforeseen occupation of the building, and thus hampered the present

function. The innovation in materials and structure has already started and will

play an important role in rendering flexibility.

By improving the quality of the decision-making process the most appropriate

level of adaptability will be provided but an assessment has to be against what

customers want and how much the owner of the property can accommodate

changes of the building, into another more efficient one.


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9. REFERENCES

Design for ChangeFlexibility Key Performance Indicators

1st I3CON Conference Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent Construction

URBA PROJECT: DEVELOPING NEW URBAN HOUSING CONCEPTSIN THE HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA

S. Puustinen, J.Kangasoja

COHESION AND FLEXIBILITY IN URBAN DESIGN PROCESS IN AMSTERDAM ANALYSIS BY THE FRAME OF TIME AND SCALE

M. Ryu

Delft University of Technology, P.O.Box 5043, 2600GA Delft, The Netherlands,

Email:[email protected]

FACTORS INFLUENCING FLEXIBILITY IN BUILDINGSNiklas Israelsson and Bengt Hansson Lund University, Malmo , Sweden

Housing markets and economic growth: lessons from the US refinancingboom

flexible housing paper

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