Why buildings should be like chameleons?
Why buildings should be like chameleons?
Built environment is created to serve specific needs and desired functions, and the sense of all that is measured by how effectively it is used when in operation. We want to maximise the return of the investment needed for creating and maintaining that environment by designing solutions that would maximise the usage of it, because any building - no matter how green and energy efficient - is wasting the financial and ecological resources if it is not effectively used.
Designing solutions which meet the given brief and program is an important responsibility of an architect, but for a long-lasting solution we need to look beyond that. There are increasing number of reasons why adaptability to change is more and more important factor when talking about usage and investment.
In order to increase the required usage of the building, the same facilities can be designed to serve multiple functions, saving space and resources. Depending on the project, these different functions can take place simultaneously, in different times of the day, or in different seasons, within the same spatial arrangement.
For almost any building, how we want to use it today will not be the same for too long due to the changes in ownership, operation, user group, maintenance, popularity etc., and architectural solution can have significant contribution on the adaptability to this kind of change.
In addition to these, globally intensifying megatrends such as urbanisation, aging, social polarisation and climate change bring with them increasing demand for adaptation on changing taking place now and in the future. Like chameleon adapts its skin colours into its changed environment, designed building facilities and spatial arrangement should adapt to changed needs.
