Cities Built For Change: Adaptable Built Form

City Built for Change: How Does Vancouver Adapt?

Vancouver City Planning Commission26 March 2008

26 March 2008 City Built for Change 2

Outline

• Goals and Questions• Unsustainable Building Cycle Issues• Adaptable Space:

– Definition– Methods and Techniques– Barriers– Examples

• Building Adaptable Space in Vancouver


Goals

• To address both “why” and “how to” nurture the City of Vancouver with buildings and public realm that are built for change, that is, to design and build with adaptability.

• To define the current adaptability obstacles and resistance to change, and how “city built for change” principles will address these issues.

• To engage all stakeholders in the discovery process of built for change solutions.

• To define the desired end products to aid in the development of a city built for change.


Adaptability Questions

• How do we build a city with resilience rather than with obsolescence?

• Why is city adaptability important?• What is the Vancouver solution to build for change? And why is it so important for this city?

• How can we encourage innovation and go beyond what is already being done in Vancouver?


The Current Building Cycle

• Construction industry:– composes significant portion of GDP (14% in US)

– BUT, is also responsible for (in US):• 30% of landfill waste• 40% of primary energy use• 40% of raw material usage

• Most of the buildings that will be operating in 2030 have already been built

• However, change is inevitable, and these buildings have not been built to adapt to this change


Adaptable Space• Definitions:

– “the ability to accommodate changes with only minor modifications, even if the needs are substantially different than anticipated”

– “the capacity of buildings to accommodate substantial change”

– “buildings that are functionally agile and intended to respond readily to different patterns of use and specific user’s requirements throughout their lifetime”


Methods and Techniques

• Open Building• Systems Building• Two-step Housing Supply System

• Design Parameters


Barriers to Adaptability

• Perceived Higher Total Costs• Conflicts of Interest• Structural and Use Considerations• Current Mindset and Practice• Commissioning and Approval Processes• Lack of Readily Available and Reliable Information

• Lack of Concerted Global Effort


Examples

• Many older buildings have stood the test of time, and are therefore inherently adaptable– Jane Jacobs stressed the importance of old buildings for a variety of reasons

• New buildings now being designed to be adaptable from the start


Vancouver: Waterfall Building

Spaces designed for flexibility and future additions

No fixed interior walls: walls can be readily moved or removed

Any combination of residential and commercial occupancies permitted


Vancouver: BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

LEED Canada Gold rating

Interstitial service floors (secondary floor raised above structural floor) allow work spaces to be reconfigured as technology and services change

“Exceptional” 43% water savings and “extraordinary” 24% recycled construction and finishing materials used

77% of materials manufactured locally; 26% of raw materials extracted locally

98.5% of construction waste diverted from landfill


Seattle: South Lake Union Discovery Center

Temporary use in a building designed for future transportation, reassembly and reuse in a new location

Integrated joints separate building into four modules

Gangway ramps can adapt to topography of new locations


San Francisco: Public Utilities

Commission Building

Solar panels on façade and roof

Wind turbines on roof

Water recycling system in basement

Thermal chimneys pull hot air out of building

Demountable building partitions allow for changing building uses over time


Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Building 20

Solid wood structure built to support heavy loads

Horizontal, and sometimes vertical, interior flexibility

Non-descript architecture let users, rather than administration, dictate its use

Built as temporary structure, but survived for 65 years


Osaka, Japan: NEXT21

Green roof and green terraces on each floor; Solar panels on roof

First residential complex to use energy cogeneration system equipped with fuel cells

Carbon dioxide reduction from this building alone equivalent to planting 5000 trees every year

Easy, low impact renovations made possible through Systems Building approach


London: 30 St Mary Axe

Core does not need to resist wind forces, meaning it can be designed as an open-planned steel structure that provides adaptable internal space

Flexible and adaptable office space due to regular internal planning grid

Natural lighting and ventilation system help tower consume 50% less energy than

typical air-conditioned tower


London: Docklands Container City

Uses existing, readily-available shipping containers as shells for new projects

Interior fitted according to [changing] needs of users

Very easily transferable when habitable space is self contained in one container

More affordable housing because materials very

inexpensive


Montréal: McGill Grow Home

Smaller size, more affordable than traditional homes

Energy savings from smaller footprint and choice of materials; surface materials selected for easy removal and upgrade

Unpartitioned space allows users to arrange living space based on their

needs


Allerton Bywater, England: Millennium Community

Residential buildings have higher ceilings and flexible floor plates to allow for commercial use once demand warrants

Homes designed to reduce energy and water consumption by 20% and also domestic and construction waste by 50%

Live-work space incorporated into many dwelling units; residents furnish units according to their needs


Barcelona: Eixample District

Extension of old urban fabric; designed in mid-19th century

Planned with mixed income zoning, regulated proximity of every unit to green space

Residential population of 350,000 and work population of 300,000

Simple and successive block pattern inherently adaptable; much like “Design Parameters” on district scale

“wide variety of urban uses have been installed with admirable architectural flexibility”


Existing Organizations, Policies and Documents

• C40 Cities – Climate Leadership Group– ‘Building’ section of ‘Best practices’ could incorporate adaptable

built forms to showcase their contribution to the overall sustainability effort

• SEATTLE – CITY Green Building– Provides green building education, early design guidance,

technical assistance and incentives

• LONDON – Tall Buildings and Sustainability – “Flexible types of structure are a requirement from building

developers in an increasingly fluid property market and new buildings need to be designed to be adaptable to changes throughout their lifetime.”

• TORONTO - Better Buildings Partnership– Goal to renew the city’s building stock– Lists Energy Management firms that help retrofit buildings to

become more energy efficient

• MORELAND, AUSTRALIA - STEPS and Sustainability Design Scorecard– Sustainable Built Form Objectives “ensure adaptable design for

future reuse, renovation or disassembly and recycling”


Implementing Adaptability in Vancouver

• Community Climate Change Action Plan – One Day

• Southeast False Creek: LEED• Metro Vancouver: Build Smart• EcoDensity• Vancouver Building By-law• Green Building Strategy


Green Building Strategy

• Currently in development• Will apply to buildings 4 storeys and above; separate strategy for other buildings

• Fifteen specific ‘green’ components, but adaptability is absent


Potential Results of Adaptability Dialogue

• Change public attitude/perception about density

• Increase awareness and dialogue of the drivers/factors facing the city

• Foster creativity and innovative designs• Encourage neighbourhood level solutions influenced by the public

• Proactive approach to the city’s development rather than reactive

Cities Built For Change: Adaptable Built Form

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