Previous Posts
- HOME
- FOR TRUE SUCCESS.....
- INTERCONNECTEDNESS - WHY THE EURO CRISIS IS IMPORTANT
- THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT OF 2011 - WHAT'S IN IT FOR C...
- LEAN FOR DUMMIES
- TODAY'S NUMBER - 634.76
- DEBT LIMITS, DEFICITS BUT WHAT ABOUT EMPLOYMENT?
- BIS WARNS - CONSTRUCTION CAPACITY DESTROYED FOREVER
- CYNICS AND VALUE
- LESSONS FROM CHRISTCHURCH
- ITS A START
Archives
- May 2011
- June 2011
- July 2011
- August 2011
- September 2011
- November 2011
- December 2011
- February 2012
- March 2012
- May 2012
- June 2012
- September 2012
- October 2012
- October 2013
- November 2013
- January 2014
- February 2014
- March 2014
- April 2014
- May 2014
- July 2014
Follow us!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
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).
posted by The QS