Adaptive Design

Pillar 3
Resilient/adaptive built environments

Need

Adaptation in the built environment has become more critical as our fast-moving economy has demanded functional flexibility and the changing climate increasingly requires systems responsiveness. Now, the challenges of the pandemic force our built environment to respond and change in entirely new ways to accommodate isolation, to sanitize our environment, and quickly to accommodate new expanding functions such as ICUs, COVID-19 testing sites, and immunization centers.

Proposed Solution

Although our buildings and infrastructure have been traditionally constructed with long-term performance in mind, such as the university “100-year building,” increasingly, developers, owners, civic leaders, and board members are asking how buildings will be expected to perform, physically, functionally, and financially over the entire span of their lives. Will the building’s function remain the same? Will the climate the building performs within remain the same? How will particular buildings or infrastructure respond in a weather, cyber, or pandemic crisis? These questions lead our researchers to ask questions regarding strategic investment in the built environment and the potential usefulness of a dynamic model to assist with decision making during design.

Statement of Work

Traditionally, owners and designers balance functional needs and cost during the design process. More sophisticated teams also inform decisions with the long-term durability of a project and the cost of capital reinvestment. In the future, owners will need to understand how much to strategically invest in adaptive design and construction versus longevity and functionality. To support decision-making in adaptive design and construction, specifically for health-related adaptability, our research working towards a new approach to dynamic modeling is crucial.