CAREER: Quantifying the Adaptability of Building Structures, Envelopes, and Foundations

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant supports fundamental research on the design of urban buildings that can be readily remodeled, upgraded, expanded or otherwise adapted. Buildings that cannot adapt are at risk of becoming obsolete, and recent surveys of building demolitions in select metropolitan areas have revealed that obsolescence, not structural failure, is the leading reason for demolition. In response, this research will study domestic and international building projects to identify the physical aspects of buildings that make them likely to be demolished or adapted. Findings from the research will be used to create tools that architects and engineers can apply to design adaptable urban buildings. Such buildings will promote economic, social, and environmental sustainability of cities as they address unprecedented and accelerating trends in urbanization, climate change, and technological advancement. University students and industry practitioners will participate in all phases of the research and will be instructed on the theory and practice of adaptable building design. There is need to transform current prediction-based design practices, which are incomplete with regard to changing demands and obsolescence. To that end a Learning Buildings Framework (LBF) will be created by integrating graph theory, risk analysis concepts, the Delphi Method, and adaptability theories from manufacturing engineering. The LBF will be the first quantitative and rigorously tested method for evaluating design-based building adaptability. Data for validation will be compiled through partnerships with domestic and international engineering, architecture, and construction companies, and will provide an orders-of-magnitude increase in the quality and quantity of empirical data on building demolition and adaptation. By providing a means of quantifying adaptability, the research will give traction to the "design for adaptability" philosophy that has been widely discussed yet narrowly implemented. Relationships established in the course of this research will support development of an international research and education program on adaptable urban infrastructure.