ACORDE: Adaptable residential buildings for a new social framework

ACORDE project emerges as an exercise of rethinking all key factors involved in a building in order to adapt it to present difficulties, taking into account the better use of resources and energy. Present tendency, due to different regulations and traditions, is to design buildings specifically thought for a single use, and even in that case, so rigid that it is very difficult to adapt it to the forthcoming user or owner's needs. During the research process, we detected a number of social and demographic changes; large families are no longer majority, and smaller families, with one or two members, are increasing dramatically. This change in families' composition should lead to a change in dwellings design; distribution needs are different, as well as its size, while the greater part of new houses in Spain are being built for an outdated family model, without taking any of this into account. The principles developed by ACORDE represent a new, efficient philosophy within the open-building framework, regarding maximum flexibility and adaptability of spaces. ACORDE project seeks to maximize buildingś flexibility, conceiving a residential building made of legally independent functional units that can be connected to or disconnected from each other with easy, plug-in facilities, in a way that permits to purchase exactly what the user need, as well as allows future changes for buildings to be adapted to the needs of their occupants, the user decides how to best utilize the space by acquiring or separating functional units along the years. This provides economic benefits to users through increased energy performance and optimal use of space. This model not only allows adaptation to any formal configuration and regulatory directive, but also permits a possible change of its main use. The efficient occupancy of space leads to an efficient use of energy, minimizing maintenance costs and guarantying the quality of life of their occupants.