Framework to assess a facility's ability to accommodate change : application to renovated buildings

Abstract

An assessment framework that presents the critical attributes that influence the accommodation of change within a building, specifically focusing on the renovation and reuse of existing low to mid-rise buildings, is developed. Unlike past studies on building renovation and reuse, this research moves away from the exogenous factors (e.g., building location, social and community issues, building age, or building deterioration) and instead concentrates on the physical engineering systems within a building that influence the feasibility of renovation and reuse. In order to develop this framework, detailed information was gathered about building renovation and reuse through literature, construction site visits, and interviews with industry professionals. A sample of 45 general building renovation case studies was examined according to two dimensions, a set of building systems and a set of changes which they experience over time. The building systems used include the structural system, the exterior enclosure system, the services system, and the interior finish system. The changes, which they experience, were broken down into three main categories: function, capacity, and flow. These dimensions were used to examine 26 out of the 45 general case studies in detail to obtain the empirical data with which the framework was developed. The examination of these case studies and the development of the assessment framework show that a movement towards accepting and incorporating new methods, techniques, and design alternatives within the construction industry is growing. More owners and developers are changing their overall outlook on the cost associated with building design, construction, and renovation from a concentration on initial costs to a broader encompassment of a building's lifecycle costs. This change in thought has incited a movement towards incorporating capabilities to accommodate change within building designs. However, to complete this movement the complex interactions and dependencies among the building systems and the changes that they experience, which through this research have been shown to exist, must be addressed and simplified.