6.1.
WHAT AND WHERE TO END
In his essay ‘Modern Architecture and the Flexible Dwelling’, Kronenburg describes the extend of mobile and flexible design as a dwelling that can be moved from place to place during inhabitation or that can change its shape and structure. But are such responsive houses really necessary? Flexibility in architecture is widely anticipated due to our ambiguity about the future. But no design adopting flexibility can survive every probable contingency. According to Ar. William Fawcett, because of our limited knowledge we are jeopardising the building scheme by either under or over- providing for flexibility. A typical example of providing flexibility in excess is the Free University of Berlin built during 1967-74. Designed by Paris based architects Candilis, Josic, Woods and Schiedhelm, the university was an architectural experiment containing a cluster of two storey buildings embraced by walkways and internal pedestrian streets in order to maximise exchange between the faculties and students. According to the architects flexibility had been adopted in order to adapt to different work programs and they claimed the possibility of dismantling the entire blocks and reassembling them elsewhere. Not so soon after, the buildings proved to be a disaster. The campus aimed to encourage free social interaction and spontaneous flux. Therefore, the faculties were distributed all around the campus. In reality, the campus layout increased physical disintegration and eventually vandalism. By 1997, major refurbishment was performed by Foster and Partners. They mainly worked on internal alterations by dividing the large spaces into smaller offices. Hence, a better understanding and transformation of flexibility effectively to an environment can be offered by ‘life cycle options’. Explained by William Fawcett, this approach enables designs to incorporate future modifications and transforms the decision making process from the present to the future where the changes required can be perceptible. For instance, Fawcett accounts that, if the future size of the building is uncertain, it is essential to construct for the current requirements and maintain open spaces for expansion of building, if required. This creates a life cycle option to expand which has a flexibility value. By evaluating the life cycle options the peril of providing less or more for flexibility can be lessened by comparing the value of flexible designs incorporating this scheme to the cost of providing possibilities. Only if the value exceeds the cost, it would be significant to invest in the flexible project. 68| page