09 : Reading : Time-Based Architecture

Last semester I researched a lot about Time-Based Architecture.  This book became particularly useful as it described a number of projects and essays about how there is always a time-factor present in any design project.

Here are some quotes from the book, which I believe are relevant to this project:

In the late 1960s, serious research was done into techniques that would allow buildings to adapt to meet the demands made by time.  However, the desire for flexibility led to programmatically neutral, characterless buildings.

Society is changing at such speed that buildings are faced with new demands which they should be in a position to meet.  There are times when buildings change function during construction or even during the design process.  A new approach, therefore, is to design buildings that are able to cope with such changes, in other words buildings that respond to the time factor.

Designing for the unknown, the unpredictable, is the new challenge facing architects today.  'Form follows function' is giving way to concept like polyvalence, changeability, flexibility, disassembly and semi-permanence.  The design is becoming an innovative tool for developing new spatial and physical structure that generate freedom.

An important design strategy for conditioning mixes of function and interchangeability of living and working is to provide more than one access system.

So it's all about the architect being disposed to designing not just for one condition but always for so much more.  Perhaps this covers the words polyvalence, competence and performance.  You have to be constantly aware of the fact that everything you make should be open to new interpretations as time goes by.