ADAPTABLE EDUCATION BUILDINGS FOR ALTERNATIVE INSTRUCTION APPROACHES: REVIEW AND SUGGESTIONS

Currently, the means to react to social, economic and technological changes,

both through existing buildings and new designs, is an important concern for

architecture. Given the transformation caused via such rapid changes,

changing spatial demands become inevitable and these demands result in the

reconfiguration of urban, suburban and rural settings and require innovative

spatial approaches that are aligned with social, economic and technological

advances, both in existing and new buildings. Concepts such as

environmental responsiveness, sustainability, information modeling, were

readily absorbed by pioneering architects, however architecture still needs to

deliver “custom design services” in the present “product-infatuated society”

[1]. In this respect, the concept of adaptability should as well be taken into

consideration as a sustainable and novel way of re-using existing buildings

and providing appropriate design decisions for new buildings. Replacing the

capacity and performance of an existing building to provide spatial solutions

for diverse functions is highly effectual given the changing demands of the

society. Education, on the other hand, is a social construct that is both

constitutive and constituted by the social practices within a specific context.

Given such characteristic education buildings could be accepted as one of the

most influential examples to disentangle the links between the current social,

economic and technological contexts and the changing spatial demands.

Therefore, the present study explores the connections between adaptability in

buildings and alternative instruction approaches, sets forth a discussion on the

current practice of educational buildings based on a systematic literature

review and provides architectural, functional, urban, economic, social,

environmental and value considerations based on selected studies focusing

on adaptive re-use and adaptable design of education buildings.