Synopses & Reviews
Flexible housing is housing that can adjust to the needs of the user, both at point of design and over time. It is also housing that can accommodate new technologies as they emerge. Flexible housing thus provides homes that are robust enough to cope with future technological and social change. Importantly it avoids obsolescence and allows users to take control of their own homes. Often associated with one-off experiments in housing, this book argues that flexible housing has the potential to make a key contribution to more sustainable and adaptable housing, arguing that it has economic, environmental and social benefits over normal housing. The book asks the simple question: why, when our homes are going to face technological and social change over the next one hundred years, are we still building housing that is inflexible and based on obsolete models?
The book is the first comprehensive overview of this important subject, examining the past, present and future of flexible housing. The authors both have direct experience in housing design as well as an established research reputation, and have combined these two areas of expertise. The book collects together over 160 international examples of the genre as a major point of reference, and through a careful analysis arrives at recommendations as to how to design flexible housing. Combining history, theory and design, the book both makes the case for flexible housing and also shows the various ways by which it has been, and can be, achieved. Specially commissioned plans, printed to scale, and over 200 illustrations allow visual comparisons to be easily made; in addition the book is illustrated throughout with diagrams to clearly show the principles. The book ends with a direct and accessible guide as to how flexible housing might be designed and constructed. The book is thus both a major historical reference and an immediately useful manual.
The book is written for housing designers who will find direct advice as to how to achieve flexibility in housing, housing managers and developers who will find the rationale for flexible housing, and students of architecture, construction and housing who will discover the history of subject and ways in which their own work might be informed.
* Assesses the needs for housing to adapt to the changing needs of society and individuals
* 80 fully illustrated case studies
* Design manual for how to achieve genuinely flexible housing
Review
Winner: 2007 RIBA President’s Awards for Research for Outstanding University-located Research
“An exemplary body of architecturally-relevant research…offering comparative design plans, well-researched historical referencing, a new classification system and a practical manual/tool kit. An innovative and brave approach...”
Synopsis
Flexible housing '" housing that can adapt to the changing needs of users over time '" is a precondition for housing that is socially, economically and environmentally viable. Yet at a time of great social and cultural change it is all too clear that much of the housing in which we live is simply unable to live up to that simple requirement. The costs in wasted investment and social instability are huge.
This book is the first comprehensive study of flexible housing, how it has evolved and how the concept can be taken forward. Case studies range from the sliding screens of a traditional Japanese House and the indeterminate design of late nineteenth century Grnderzeit tenements through Mies van der Rohe's apartment blocks and the participative approaches of Walter Segal and Ottokar Uhl to contemporary developments of technicised solutions and the re-discovery of indeterminate layout. Each case study is illustrated with drawings and photographs that allow cross comparison with other approaches to flexibility in housing.
The authors take the lessons from the case studies to propose a set of design principles that emphasise the importance of flexibility and adaptability in 'future-proofing housing design for rapidly evolving demographic and technological change. Written by some of the UK's most innovative and radical designers, Flexible Housing is a manifesto for the future of domestic architecture.
* Assesses the needs for housing to adapt to the changing needs of society and individuals
* 80 fully illustrated case studies
* Design manual for how to achieve genuinely flexible housing
Synopsis
Flexible housing housing that can adapt to the changing needs of users over time is a precondition for housing that is socially, economically and environmentally viable. Yet at a time of great social and cultural change it is all too clear that much of the housing in which we live is simply unable to live up to that simple requirement. The costs in wasted investment and social instability are huge. This book is the first comprehensive study of flexible housing, how it has evolved and how the concept can be taken forward. Case studies range from the sliding screens of a traditional Japanese House and the indeterminate design of late nineteenth century Grnderzeit tenements through Mies van der Rohe's apartment blocks and the participative approaches of Walter Segal and Ottokar Uhl to contemporary developments of technicised solutions and the re-discovery of indeterminate layout.
Synopsis
Flexible housing is housing that can adjust to the changing needs of the user and accommodate new technologies as they emerge. Flexible Housing by Jeremy Till and Tatjana Schneider examines the past, present and future of this important subject through over 160 international examples. Specially commissioned plans, printed to scale, together with over 200 illustrations and diagrams provide fascinating detail and allow direct visual comparisons to be made. Combining history, theory and design the book explains the social and economic benefits that can be achieved and shows the various ways it has been and can be delivered. The book ends with an accessible guide to how flexible housing might be designed and constructed today to achieve adaptable and ultimately sustainable buildings.Housing designers, housing managers and students of architecture, construction and housing will find this book of immense value both as a comprehensive reference and design manual.
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Flexible Housing?
Why Flexible Housing?
Case Studies
Design Guidelines