New approaches for overcoming the complexity of future buildings impacted by new energy constraints

In many European countries, building is an economical sector where it is possible to reduce significantly energy dependence and environmental impact. Ambitious objectives are required for 2020 future buildings: extremely low energy consumption, low carbon emission, etc. To reach these new goals, the existing design of buildings has to change.Buildings are complex systems occupied by humans interacting with their environment. Indeed, each building can be considered a unique set of elements in dynamic interaction, structured and goal-oriented. New drastic energy objectives increase the complexity of building systems. Levels of energy and environmental performance, never reached in the past, are required for future buildings.In this context, it appears that professional capabilities and existing practices are no longer adequate. The actors of the building sector have to face up to a growing complexity generated by new constraints. Usual theories and practices are under questionning.The aim of this paper is to provide an original and helpful approach to this new complexity of future buildings. This approach, based on concepts of complexity and transdisciplinarity, consists in a combination of structural, functional and transformation approaches, thus providing a tridimensional cognitive framework to plan future buildings in a dynamic way.

► The complexity of future buildings is impacted by energy constraints. ► Existing analytical design approaches are not optimized for complex systems. ► A combination of structural, functional and transformation approaches is proposed. ► It improves diagnostic and renovation processes by a new assessment framework. ► Associated with cyclic and linear approaches, it improves building performance.