Design for Flexibility: Case of Chandigarh and Hospital Buildings in India

Abstract

Architecture of present is for the future also. Whatever we design is not for few years but for at least next seventy years hence, our buildings and cities should have a capacity to accommodate more functions than it is designed for and being expanded in future, as the number of masses presently coming into it tend to increase in future, this may be termed as designing for flexibility. If we don’t keep this in mind then our design will become obsolete in short duration than its intended period. The present paper therefore discusses how we can make our designs of different buildings, cities flexible. It has been discussed through various examples of famous cities such as Chandigarh and complex buildings such as hospitals from across India and taking inferences out of these that what transformations the designs of these cities and buildings have undergone and the reasons resulting in overburdening of these, fol-lowed by subsequent remedial measures to be taken to overcome these in the initial as well as the operational stages of such projects. Modular approach in designing is good as it provides flexibility so that one can add similar modules in future as the demand will increase. Apart from this, the analysis of various other aspects such as the type of users of cities and buildings will show that in-depth analysis of various sects and communities, their lifestyle, occupation means of transport etc. are most likely to influence the design and hence, it is very important to keep these in mind before designing to retain the flexibility of the designs of these cities and buildings respectively.