Residents’ views on adaptable housing: a virtual reality-based study

Buildings & Cities

卷:3

Satu Huuhka¹  Jyrki Tarpio¹ 

[1]Tampere University, School of Architecture, Tampere

关键词: adaptability;    flexibility;    housing;    inhabitants;    internal transformability;    multifamily housing;    value;    virtual reality;    finland;   

DOI  :  10.5334/bc.184

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Housing adaptability is often said to be a characteristic that benefits the residents. But is there an actual demand from residents? This study asks whether and what kind of value residents place on adaptable housing. The research, situated in Finland, combines interviews involving seven varied households together with their experiences of adaptable flats in a 3D CAVE immersive virtual reality environment. The participants were first interviewed about their current life, housing situations and expected future changes in household composition or housing needs. For the virtual viewings, flats with systematically transformable floor plans were designed to anticipate situations that could occur during people’s housing careers ('e.g'. the birth of a child, working from home, a child leaving home, additional healthcare, 'e.g'.). The participants walked through virtual flats selected for them based on the first interview. Afterwards, they were re-interviewed, focusing on the value they place on the presented adaptability. All households identified functional benefits for their current or anticipated situation, and many expressed a willingness to buy a home with the demonstrated adaptability characteristics. Most also described economic security that adaptability provides ('e.g'. renting or selling a part of the flat separately) and the benefits of remaining long term in a flat. Practice relevance In the adaptability discourse, residents’ opinions have been heard to a very limited degree. More typically, adaptability researchers or architects make the case for adaptability on the residents’ behalf. According to recent research, some architects assume developers are disinterested in building more adaptable flats partly because no real market demand by inhabitants is believed to exist. The findings of the current study demonstrate that residents need to be properly informed about the benefits of adaptability by the housing provider. Virtual reality can be a useful tool for demonstrating adaptability characteristics. When sufficiently informed, the participants of the current study considered adaptability as functionally beneficial for the family and a desirable feature that would increase their willingness to buy and pay a premium. To demonstrate a potential market or its absence in a given context, residents’ views should be sought more widely and more often.

【 授权许可】

Unknown