FLEX 4.0, A Practical Instrument to Assess the Adaptive Capacity of Buildings

Adaptive buildings are green buildings. But the question is: how to measure green? A direct connection can be made between adaptive building and sustainability. Market developments show increased demands for flexibility and sustainability by users and owners as well as a growing understanding of the importance of a circular economy. Since 2014 a research project at the Delft University has been investigating the adaptive capacity of buildings. As one of the results several versions of an instrument to assess the adaptive capacity of buildings have been developed since. The last version FLEX 4.0, amongst others based on the support and infill theory of Habraken [1], is described in detail in this paper, including all flexibility key performance indicators, the different default weighting factors, their assessment values and some examples to determine the flexibility class of buildings. This paper thus presents a complete assessment instrument that can be used in practice.