We live in a quickly changing and evolving world and society. This high rate of change induces inevitably a high rate of material consumption that is due to the change of trends, norms but also due to the development of new technical solutions. Although the construction industry considers buildings as long-life artefacts which are, therefore, designed and build as static and permanent objects, it is clear that buildings get obsolete also due to various reasons, from the evolution of security or environmental norms to change in family structures or functional needs.
Therefore, Design for Change (DfC) is a design approach considering buildings as
time-dependent structures that should be designed considering change. Although
in principle the design approach may seem rather simple, its application within
practice is not as straightforward. In Belgium, the Flanders waste agency OVAM
published in 2015 a set of 23 design principles aiming at explaining, disseminating and documenting design strategies anticipating or facilitating future alterations of buildings while reducing the potential amount of future waste. While these 23 design criteria were proven to be useful to designers, it should be noted that their assimilation and implementation still requires time and training which could be considered as a barrier against their spreading.
Furthermore, the construction industry faces a recent paradigm shift. This historically paper-based industry is gradually shifting towards a digital and integrated one. Building Information Modelling (BIM), Big Data and other highly technical solutions and concepts are entering (or have entered) the industry. While this evolution induces a drastic challenge for the way we design and build our buildings, it is an opportunity as well. Indeed, data which were already present but difficult to gather and manage becomes available and may allow designers to directly receive easy-and-fast feedback. The data gathered from the models could be filtered, organised and processed to become useful information and provide potential insights and knowledge to their users: the designers.
This research proposes to seize this opportunity and presents a first attempt to translate some of the design principles of Design for Change into digitally-enabled design methods and tools. To do so, a list of already existing assessment methods and an inventory of existing tools is discussed, including SAGA, the 23 design principles and the transformation capacity tool. First, the potential of the implementation of DfC principles into digitally-enabled qualitative and quantitative parameters is discussed. Then, a first implementation, COMPA²SS (Change-Oriented Metadata Adaptability Assessment), a preliminary custom-made-tool is showcased.
COMPA²SS focuses on the conceptual design phase considering room proportions, dimensions and shape, space connectivity,potential for daylight and natural ventilation. Although this is not an extensive list of all the parameters that could be taken into account, this selection already provides a quick review on potential futureproofness of buildings. Several small-scale case studies are illustrative and serve as a proof-of-concept of the digital, objectified evaluation of the level of “Design for Change” a design proposal offers.
While the tool and the method behind are not robust yet, they already provide useful insight in assessing and analysing the future potential of buildings and allow architects and designers to gather, use and learn DfC principles within a BIM environment. Ultimately this should facilitate the dissemination of DfC principles by making them easier to access and investigate while designing.
Development of testing methods and standardization , Development of design and modelling methods
