Towards more adaptable buildings for a society in transition ?
Working Space © Olivier Wavre / LAST / EPFL
Prof. Emmanuel Rey of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) was invited to write a column simultaneously broadcast in several Swiss newspapers like Le Nouvelliste, Arcinfo and La Côte on modular architecture. The article highlights the challenges and potentials of this type of approach, between the search for adaptability and transitions towards sustainability.
The observation of our built heritage shows that it is renewed in relatively slow cycles. Its transformation often requires complex interventions, which monopolize important environmental and financial resources. On the contrary, our society is characterized by socio-cultural evolutions that are increasingly rapid and unpredictable. This phenomenon occurs both in the housing sector, through the break-up of the traditional family unit and the reduction in the size of households, and in that of activities by the acceleration of socio-economic or technological developments.
Faced with this double observation, the actors of the built environment are looking for new strategies to respond in a sustainable manner to these changing needs. In particular, new buildings should be more scalable, more adaptable, and more efficient. In this context, the modular architecture offers a promising prospect, insofar as it incorporates the notions of adaptability, sustainability, and architectural quality right from the first steps of the design process.
Closely linked to the prefabrication, it is characterized by a design based on the manufacture of macroelements in the workshop, which are then transported, deposited, mounted or stacked on the construction site. These macroelements can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional, sometimes forming fully equipped spatial units. As part of continuing concerns dating back to the beginnings of the modern movement, like the Bauhaus whose centenary is celebrated this year, such art of building requires thinking in systems. This requires intense consideration of how it will be built from the first conceptual steps of the project.
In the era of climate urgency, this type of approach is now resonating with increased expectations for carbon footprint and circular resource management. It can indeed promote the development of local resources, in particular, indigenous wood, or the reuse of recovered components.
The fact that a large part of the construction is done in the studio increases the potential of integrated digital processes. In the context of urban densification, such constructions also have the advantage of shorter duration and less nuisance for the neighborhood. Given these convergent advantages, a proliferation of innovative approaches can currently be observed, which concerns a growing number of functions, far beyond mere event structures, emergency housing or temporary pavilions.
These considerations were at the heart of the exchanges of the 10th edition of the Ecoparc Forum, which brought together on September 6th more than 120 participants in Microcity, the EPFL branch in Neuchâtel. With an architectural quality at the height of the stakes, an interesting paradigm shift could emerge for the design of new buildings, complementing the multiple interventions on the already existing large built park.