FUNCTIONAL OBSOLESCENCE AND FLEXIBILITY, KEYS TO DRIVING CHANGE

Bill Gates once reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry this way: "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." Good job that he wasn’t thinking about the construction industry!
Let’s face it; change comes slowly to the construction industry. Like most industries (and technologies, businesses and political systems) the main determinants of change come primarily from outside; often from the customers.

Unlike consumer products which have a relatively short life cycle, buildings tend to be designed and constructed to last for decades if not for centuries. However, in my experience, designers tend to see buildings as a static, single use product rather than something that should successfully evolve through multiple uses over their lifespans.

So then does change come? It’s the consumers (the building owners and building end users) who should be actively pushing the importance of overcoming functional obsolescence and achieving flexibility.  Perhaps they should even redefine the terms "functional obsolescence" and "flexibility". Without the consumer driving the issue the industry’s natural inertia will win (again).

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