Interior model with flexible module package. NAI Collection, SAR Archive, via Wikimedia Commons. No known copyright restrictions. The SAR (Foundation for Architectural Research) was founded by John Habraken in Eindhoven in 1965.“We tend to build based on short term needs and rigid formulas that require top down decision making and centralized control. Rather than evolving and adapting, our buildings and neighborhoods become obsolete and require wholesale replacement before their potential lifespan is achieved. Buildings and urban neighborhoods need to be designed for change, thus inviting broad participation at different levels and inviting continuous transformation over time. This extends the life of the built environment, fosterers adjustments meeting individual needs and evolving building uses and ensures resilience while reducing the carbon footprint.”
This is the challenge proposed by the Council on Open Building, whose mission is “to increase the capacity of the built environment to accommodate diverse uses and incremental change across project types over time. The Council provides information, training and leadership in support of this mission.”
“Open Building is a term that was coined in the mid-1980’s in the Netherlands (Open Bouwen in Dutch), some twenty years after John Habraken proposed the Support/Infill concept for housing (Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing, 1961).” Habraken’s work is explored in Cassim Shepard’s “Mass Support,” also featured in this season of arcCA DIGEST.
Explore the resources offered by the Council on Open Building here.
