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Sustainability
Volume 13
Issue 12
10.3390/su13126974
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Article

Expandable Houses: An Explorative Life Cycle Cost Analysis

by
Charlotte Cambier
1,*,
Waldo Galle
1,2 and
Niels De Temmerman
1
1
Department of Architectural Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
2
VITO Transition Platform, Flemish Institute for Technical Research, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6974; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126974
Submission received: 16 April 2021 / Revised: 4 June 2021 / Accepted: 15 June 2021 / Published: 21 June 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Circular Housing Economy)
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Abstract

In addition to the environmental burden of its construction and demolition activities, the Flemish housing market faces a structural affordability challenge. As one possible answer, this research explores the potential of so-called expandable houses, being built increasingly often. Through specific design choices that enable the disassembly and future reuse of individual components and so align with the idea of a circular economy, expandable houses promise to provide ever-changing homes with a smaller impact on the environment and at a lower cost for clients. In this paper, an expandable house suitable for various housing needs is conceived through a scenario-based research-by-design approach and compared to a reference house for Flanders. Subsequently, for both houses the life cycle costs are calculated and compared. The results of this exploration support the proposition that designing expandable houses can be a catalyst for sustainable, circular housing development and that households could benefit from its social, economic and ecological qualities. It requires, however, a dynamic perspective on evaluating their life-cycle impact.
Keywords: design for change; housing; life cycle costing; transformable architecture; adaptable buildings; sustainable architecture design for change; housing; life cycle costing; transformable architecture; adaptable buildings; sustainable architecture

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MDPI and ACS Style

Cambier, C.; Galle, W.; De Temmerman, N. Expandable Houses: An Explorative Life Cycle Cost Analysis. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126974

AMA Style

Cambier C, Galle W, De Temmerman N. Expandable Houses: An Explorative Life Cycle Cost Analysis. Sustainability. 2021; 13(12):6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126974

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cambier, Charlotte, Waldo Galle, and Niels De Temmerman. 2021. "Expandable Houses: An Explorative Life Cycle Cost Analysis" Sustainability 13, no. 12: 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126974

APA Style

Cambier, C., Galle, W., & De Temmerman, N. (2021). Expandable Houses: An Explorative Life Cycle Cost Analysis. Sustainability, 13(12), 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126974

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