Open Building

The Routledge Open Building Series is a library of titles addressing the Open Building approach to architecture and urban design. It offers an international perspective, providing theory, design methods, examples of construction techniques, manufactured products and many realized projects. These titles augment a growing literature in sustainability and resilience in the built environment by focusing on the fourth dimension.

Open Building advocates separation of design tasks: the design of what is shared and what will last, and the design of what belongs to individual occupancies and is expected to change more quickly. This is both a social/political and a design skills issue. Urban design projects, office buildings, shopping centers and laboratories are examples of separation of design tasks. The same should become the norm in multi-unit housing, healthcare and educational facilities and other project types making up our everyday world. The Open Building  approach addresses how to establish the boundary between what is shared and what is decided independently; how to separate the distribution of utility lines between the two; how to evaluate a building’s or urban design’s capacity to accommodate a variety of interventions initially and over time; and what shared patterns, types and systems help designers cultivate coherent variety. More generally, Open Building helps design professionals work with change and to cooperate in the flowering of everyday environment.

This series provides answers to these questions, and more, and is designed to be the go-to resource for anyone seeking to understand and practice Open Building.