Parie, Longevity is a primary strategy to improving resource efficiency and
also providing some constancy in our built environment which helps us know
who we are. However, how can we plan reliably to achieve this ideal? I
don't think it is a simple as just using durable materials, though that is
a part of it.
Timber framing (for example) has demonstrated longevity, and it has done
that by virtue of it accommodating change rather than going the "brick
shithouse" route. Frames are more flexible than planes ... they allow for
the constant reconfiguring of space without getting themselves chewed up in
the process. They also allow for disassembly and re-erection. (there are
buidings around me that have been moved several times in their 200+ years
of life).
So here is where I find the first message for achieving longevity - Gordon
said it years ago ..."long life .. loose fit".
Don't bind your assemblies too tightly together.. and especially don't
laminate short life materials with longer lived ones .. unless there's a
simple, efficient way to recover the latter.
Here's the second route to longevity (and here I'm really wandering)...
Remembering that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" suggests that
producing buildings that people love and care about, and will fight to
retain, is the context within which all this must occur. Here's the
critical link between all this technology and the aesthetic delight which
we so often find hard to factor into the ecomonic calculus.
Bruce Coldham
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