Adaptability of buildings: to what extent do design-support models consider context-related factors? A literature review

Abstract

Abstract A growing interest for the adaptability of buildings has been expressed in the last years when talking about circular economy. The adaptability of a building indicates its ability to evolve and host different functions all along its life cycle with the minimum generation of waste. However, design-support models for adaptable buildings are still in development and they do not always include context-related factors on a local or large scale, such as data about building stock, socio-economic trends, policies, and regulations. This paper aims to provide an updated review of the existing design-support models and a critical reflection on their links to local contexts, to finally contribute to the research question: “to what extent the design-support models for adaptability consider context-related factors?”. A literature review was conducted using Scopus, including peer-reviewed journal papers, conference papers and books. The research provides an updated state of the art of the existing models to analyse and rate the adaptability of buildings with a special focus on the indicators that considers context-related factors. A series of recommendations are proposed to consider context-related factors with an impact on building adaptability, to facilitate the implementation of adaptability models to local contexts and to identify the barriers to such an adaptation. Finally, this paper aims to set the basis for future research on design-support models and their integration in a more context-related and accessible design workflow.