Search results

Most buildings are hardly ever technically equipped to adapt to ever changing user demands. Adaptability of building components is known as an essential technical aid to facilitate flexible use. However, for designers and developers it is very difficult to foresee how design decisions related to flexible use effect the efficiency of the technical system, especially when adaptations have to be realized in the future. Due to the large number of variables and interrelations, a structured approach is indispensable to translate (future) user demands into technical solutions for flexible use. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present a novel method that can assist designers to systematically find suitable measures for flexible use. This method, named comparative selection method for adaptability measures (CSA method), is developed specifically to impartially select and compare adaptability measures.

The CSA method is principally based on a performance approach, where technical solutions are compared and matched to performance requirements. To accomplish that, specific tools and theories were transferred from industrial product development. The CSA method displays the benefits of lifespan-oriented design, since a distinction is made between initial, once occurring effects and the effects that come with each expected adaptation.

In contemporary building practice the initial phase is critical for decision making. By a number of case studies, the application of the CSA method reveals that tailor-made solutions with a high degree of adaptability are in fact the most efficient for the long term. Hereby the view is confirmed that a lifespan-oriented approach in design decisions is essential for a sustainable and future-proof building stock.

The CSA method is a newly developed and unique support tool that assists in optimizing flexible building design through the search for best fit adaptability solutions.

The purpose of this study is to explore communication of hazard-resistant construction techniques after disaster in the absence of outside influence. It further aims to unpack the barriers and drivers in the adoption of knowledge processes to identify strategic recommendations to enlarge adoption of safer construction practices by local construction actors.

This paper is based on an analysis of stakeholders’ perspectives during post-disaster reconstruction in the Philippines in the province of Busuanga after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Data were collected from six communities that received no external housing assistance, analyzing surveys from 220 households, 13 carpenters, 20 key actors coordinating reconstruction or recovery efforts, as well as 12 focus group discussions.

This research argues for a stronger role of governmental agencies, vocational training schools and engineers. Current communication of typhoon-resistant construction knowledge is ineffective to stimulate awareness, understanding and adoption by local construction actors and self-recovering households.

The analysis in this study focuses on a small sample of communities in the west of the Philippines that are not frequently affected by typhoons.

This is one of the few scholarly works in the Philippines focused on adoption of safer construction practices by community-based construction actors when technical housing assistance is absent.