PRINCIPLE 3 FORM & FLEXIBILITY
Buildings such as this old warehouse have great flexibility. Here it has been adapted to become the Manchester Science & Industry Museum.
The fundamental difference between a building and a piece of sculpture is that a building has a function – it is a place in which certain activities take place. It is therefore essential that the building is fit for purpose – a concept that sounds simple, but is actually quite complex. Meeting tomorrow’s needs The difficulty arises because of the long life-spans of buildings. Most of us find it hard to imagine how we will be living our lives in 20 or even five years’ time, yet our buildings are designed to last for 30 to 50 years – and, as we know from looking around us, many last much longer than that. A well-designed building should be able to serve these unknown future users as well as the users of today. But it is worth starting with today. After all, if a building is not fit for its current purpose, it is highly unlikely that it will suit the users of tomorrow. The first important point is that its fabric should be sound. This means that the structure must be good enough to hold the building up, and it must perform the principal function of buildings in most climates – to keep the weather out. A primary requirement, therefore, is that the building must not leak. With centuries of building experience, it may seem surprising that we have not solved this problem once and for all. Unfortunately a combination of poor understanding, poor detailing, poor execution and poor maintenance results in too many buildings that require a bucket in a near permanent position to catch the drips.
Formerly a Ming Temple (Beijing, China), it has been converted into a residence and gallery.
Without new uses, buildings become derelict.