DESIGN STUDIO

SEMESTER III

A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki

 DESIGN STUDIO

Cities are designed for permanence rather than adaptability

The advent of modern material such as concrete, structures in the city became rigid and has
minimum to no flexibility for adaptation and disassembly without creating a large amount
of carbon footprint. Cities were designed to be centres of economic growth so the
architecture of the cities were driven by linear economy. Due to the rapid changes in city Linear Economy
life, the structures do not cope up and they end up being abandoned or demolished once it
has run its course, which is a waste of resources and further add to the carbon footprint.
Instead of using the abandoned buildings for their materials and spaces we end up creating
more and more structures to the city which has limited lifeline and limited programmatic
use. According to Rem Koolhaas in his book 'Junkspace', he mentions we have built more
than all previous generations put together.
Take Make Use Dispose

After the Industrial Revolution, there was mass production of products and the goal of the
industrialist was that the product be efficient, profitable, serves a certain amount of time
till it gets replaced and linear. Due to this reason, there was exploitation of materials and Circular Economy
unaccounted creation of products. Designs were always produced in isolation and never
looked at the larger scheme of things. Recycling and reuse were never the primary aim of
the designs.

The construction industry being the largest consumer of raw material in the world, does not
use the whole potential of the material and these material ends up in landfills. The materials
and the construction techniques used in today's time do not allow for the use of concept Take Make Use Recycle
such as 'Circular Economy' or 'Design for Disassembly'.

The materials used today are not meant for recycle and reuse, as they are designed for
linear usage or for a definite period of time, so moulding them or forcing them into recycling
is actually downcycling, as extra amount of energy and efforts will got into 'recycling' it.

A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki

Semester III
 DESIGN STUDIO

Adaptibility

Changing according to the needs of surrounding architecture is the essence of adaptive

architecture. Adaptive architecture is a framework which changes its structure, behaviour
or resources according to request. Following are the points to consider :

Mobility
Mobility as a design strategy allows buildings to better respond to changes around them. It
is seen that mostly, the architecture is fixed to one location. In adaptive Architecture, ideas
and inspiration is often taken from related mobile infrastructure such as trailers, boats,
caravans to develop building the respond to inhabitants' needs. This results in Adaptibility
transportable and mobile architecture.

Levels of Prescription
There is no limit as to what can be prescribed when it comes to adaptive architecture. At
one end of the scale, things are left open; the framework is designed in such a way so as to
handle the conceivable interior adaptations. At the other end of the scale, we prescribe all
possible adaptations and this is done in an effort to anticipate what occupants of such a
building might require over the life-time of the building.

Reusability and Standardisation

The building can be designed in a simple way, where every module is made to fit that
particular building. In most buildings, some form of standardisation exists. In the case of Adaptation of material Adaptation of space
pre-fabricated buildings, almost all components are standardised. In this case, components
could be switchable, which should lead to more adaptive design.

Automation – Human Intervention

Adaptive buildings are explicitly designed for inhabitant intervention. Inhabitants will be
able to revolve, reposition and move from one place to another, the architectural elements
that are specially designed for this purpose, through assisted power systems or manually.
Many times it also relies on automation.

A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki

Semester III
 DESIGN STUDIO

Dom-ino House

Dom-Ino House (French: Maison Dom-Ino) is an open floor plan modular structure
designed by the pioneering architect Le Corbusier in 1914–1915.

This model proposed an open floor plan consisting of concrete slabs supported by a minimal
number of thin, reinforced concrete columns around the edges, with a stairway providing
access to each level on one side of the floor plan. The frame was to be completely
independent of the floor plans of the houses thus giving freedom to design the interior
configuration.

Theme : Modularity and standardization Free Movement

Freedom of adaptations

Inspiration : Ford’s streamline process for mass production (1913)

A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki
Semester III
 DESIGN STUDIO

Pompidou Centre

The Pompidou Centre was formally opened on January 31, 1977. The architects were
Renzo Piano of Italy and Richard Rogers of Britain.

Primarily a museum and centre for the visual arts of the 20th century, the Pompidou Centre
houses many separate services and activities. Its museum of modern art brought under one
roof several public collections of modern art previously housed in a number of other Paris
galleries.

The building is designed so that the internal spaces can be easily rearranged – made
possible by placing the building services, corridors, elevators and structural members on its
exterior.
Theme : High-tech architecture, adaptive architecture
Column less space

Higher degree of adaptation

Inspiration : Concepts of ‘Plug-in City’ by Archigram (1960s)
A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki
Semester III
 DESIGN STUDIO

System

Adaptation in architecture can be broadly SCALABLE CONVERTIBLE

categorised in 6 types, each with its unique
features. The type of adaptation depends upon modular units multi functional space

the existing condition such as the program, extra space light weight material
joinable spaces simple joineries
context, availability of material, joinery
technique, etc.

Different type of adaptations are :

- Scalable
- Convertible
-Adjustable
-Movable
-Versatile REFITABLE ADJUSTABLE
-Refitable
minimum point of contact user controlled
ADAPTATIONS
These adaptations can be used in isolation or 2 interchangeable elements detachable connections
or more can be combined together.
standard elements plug and play elements

non-fixed elements

VERSATILE MOVABLE
multiple service points kit of parts
movable walls collapsable
desired room sizes easy connections
light materials

A015 Mohd Hamza Solanki

Semester III