DESIGN FOR ADAPTABILITY / FLEXIBILITY

1.1. DESCRIPTION A design aimed at the adaptability and flexibility of the building allows the end of its life to not coincide with the end of its use, also allows, downstream of an initial careful design, to change and vary, with reduced need for means and money, its basic configuration to adapt it to new needs and uses, different from the original ones, even if not identified in the first design of the structure. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS This practice is aligned with the circular economy idea of rethinking, redesigning and reusing: all these principles are involved in the design phase to prevent the production of construction and demolition waste, not considering the possibility that the building, at the end of its first useful life, has to be dismantled, but instead reused in its entirety and with only minimal changes. Buildings resulting from design for adaptability/flexibility are thus a guarantee that material flows will be reduced even in the case of interventions on them. 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS This way of designing the building is totally innovative and different from any traditional approach. For this reason, it is necessary for new designers to be trained directly in this philosophy, while the more experienced ones keep up to date and are willing to get involved: in particular, it is necessary to be familiar with digital design tools, such as BIM, which can guarantee to keep track of what can be done and what has already been done. The idea that a building can be easily reused by changing its use is in contrast to one of today's major problems, namely that of the impossibility of recovering disused existing buildings without incurring structural and economic problems; however, it is also necessary here for companies to focus on the transition to standardised components, which also allow other construction product companies to adapt production and integrate to maximise building flexibility.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Use of modular and/or prefabricated components - Structural configuration of the building as regular and simple as possible - Easily maintainable and adaptable elements - Use of digital modelling software (e.g. BIM) - Realisation of several design alternatives with the same components to provide a range of easily realisable configurations - Drawing up design drawings as detailed and accurate as possible, also paying attention to how parts are joined together - Need to emphasise in the designs which parts must remain fixed in subsequent interventions to avoid problems, especially structural ones, such as entrances, openings, technical compartments and inspection areas, in order to always guarantee accessibility - Use of movable partitions and components - Design and management of the building by layers (site, envelope, structure, services, interior, furniture)

3.1. BENEFITS - Limitation of construction and demolition waste production by 83.2%. - Possibility of easy reversibility of design choices if they are not as functional as initially expected - Extension of the useful life of the building with the possibility of changes of use according to new requirements, be they aesthetic, functional or spatial, without excessive complications and costs - Easier replication, even with slight modifications, of the building for others with the same intended use, simplifying the work of designers and allowing more widespread use of this type of design 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Need for much more accurate and precise component design - High degree of attention to be paid in the realisation of the various components in total adherence to the design, with minimum tolerances to avoid problems in reconfigurations - Maximum flexibility achievable through multi-criteria decision-making methods, which are very complex and require a specialised figure - Unreasoned overuse of means, with reduction of the circularity of the process, resulting from the possibility of easily modifying the building, even at very close time intervals - Need to design considering every layout variation made on the building in the past, in order to know how the building and in particular the structure has been worked on, devising safe and increasingly circular future scenarios