Abstract
One of the most important considerations in housing design is flexibility, which refers to the idea of including change over time. In looking at recent residential architecture of Cyprus, especially in real estate housing as a subset of mass housing, unfortunately, flexibility is not considered enough as a leading concept. The aim of this research is to evaluate notions and stages of flexibility in real estate housing projects in a recently developed residential context on the Salamis coastal line between the cities of Famagusta and Trikomo. The first step is flexibility assessment from an architectural perspective, through analyzing the architectural drawings of the projects to find out the potential for long term flexibility in terms of ‘structural’, ‘functional’ and ‘cultural’ notions; whereas, the second step is evaluating flexibility in three phases as ‘design’, ‘construction’ and ‘usage’ stages through questionnaire surveys with both construction companies and users. The results indicate the flexibility from the company’s perspective and defragment the inhabitants’ external and interior flexibility needs in three different stages, highlighting the role of companies and architects in designing flexible housing that can adapt to various users and their changing needs and preferences. Keywords: Adaptability, user needs, flexibility stages, interior space, architecture.
Highlights
The industrial revolution and the need to shelter more people in urban settings caused a development in the multi-unit housing type
The main goal of this study is to evaluate notions and subnotions of flexibility in different phases of selected real estate multi-unit housing projects in a recently developed residential context
The findings include the needs to change space organizations (64%) or functions of interior spaces (62%) for functional flexibility or change wall arrangements (54%) for the need for privacy; shifting location of fireplace or adding a fireplace (54%) at the construction stage
Summary
The industrial revolution and the need to shelter more people in urban settings caused a development in the multi-unit housing type. As Edwards [2] mentions, designers need to make a good fit between the dwelling unit features and the changing life-cycle requirements of households in order to prevent constant movement and to simplify anticipated future modifications or additions. The lack of these will result in either unwanted moves due to physical insufficiencies of dwellings [3] or additional costs for adaptation of the dwelling to different users, as well as lifecycle changes [4]. The original layouts of houses experience numerous modifications in size, interior spaces layout and styles, and extending spaces, as well as changes in both interior and external characteristics
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