Kostourou, F; Psarra, S; (2017) Formal Adaptability: A Discussion of Morphological Changes and their Impact on Density in Low-Rise Mass Housing. In: Heitor, T and Serra, M and Pinelo Silva, J and Bacharel, M and Cannas da Silva, L, (eds.) Proceedings of the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. 73.1-73.19). Instituto Superior Técnico: Portugal.

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Abstract

Upon building completion, housing value starts diminishing over time. If it fails to fulfil stakeholders’ long-term needs, the building becomes obsolescent. While some housing schemes survive, others do not, being inflexible in changes over time. This paper explores physical adaptability as a design characteristic that other things being equal, adds to longterm viability in urban housing. It addresses the topic by investigating the adaptability of urban form and the impact of physical adaptations on space consumption and density in low-income mass residential developments. It studies urban form, buildings, plots and streets in and for themselves independent of their use. The objective is to understand how the three elements adapt over time and which morphological characteristics determine their capacity to adapt, a property that may contribute to greater socio-spatial sustainability in the built environment. Taking ‘Cité Ouvrière’ as an example –a working-class housing scheme in Mulhouse (France)– the paper traces its transformation process from its birth till the beginning of 21st century. First, it focuses on the adaptability of the streets using space syntax analysis. Having the local network resisting to changes over time, its degree of adaptability has been subject to three factors: the morphology of blocks, the evolution of the wider city network, and the configurational relation of the two local and global networks. The second part of the paper discusses the building and plot types of Cité Ouvrière and their bottom-up typo-morphological evolution. Based on empirical and archival data, the study identifies eight ‘mechanisms’ of physical change and examines their impact on the built density using Berghauser Pont and Haupt’s Spacematrix density model at the level of building-plot compounds. Ultimately, the same model is used to describe the degree of adaptability as a matter of built density for four housing typologies. For buildings and plots, adaptability refers to their ability to accommodate effectively changes in their form over time. In the context of Cité Ouvrière, physical adaptations have transformed an initially uniform garden city into a morphologically heterogeneous and compact urban quarter. Despite the original standardisation, a variety of formal outcomes and typological mutations have emerged as a result of three morphological characteristics inherent in the original design: location within the city, low built intensity and small plot coverage providing surplus open space.

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