Achieving open building in high-rise, high density built environment - facts, obstacles and way outs

Abstract

Aging of building stock is emerging. Open Building as a sustainable approach to deal with the aging building stock is seldom applied in the high-rise environment. This paper presents findings from a survey of 495 buildings from ten major housing estates in Hong Kong. Founded on extractions from layouts and floor plans, facts and obstacles of the implementation of the concept of Open Building are unearthed. The opportunities for achieving Open Building in private residential buildings in the territory are discussed. The layout and structure of private residential buildings in Hong Kong are very much alike. They are in general failed to adapt and so any change in user requirement is not easily accommodated. Implementing Open Building using flexible and green fittings is a feasible way to enable transformation in the existing stock.