Adaptive Architecture: Changing Parameters and Practice

The constant in architecture’s evolution is change. Adaptive Architecture explores structures, or environments that accommodate multiple functions at the same time, sequentially, or at periodically recurring events. It demonstrates how changing technological, economic, ecological and social conditions have altered the playing field for architecture from the design of single purpose structures to the design of interacting systems of synergistically interdependent, distributed buildings. Including contributors from the US, UK, Japan, Australia, Germany and South Africa, the essays are woven into a five-part framework which provides a broad and unique treatment of this important and timely issue.

Wolfgang F.E. Preiser holds a Ph.D. in Man-Environment Relations from Penn State, and several architecture degrees from Virginia Tech, Karlsruhe Tech (Germany) and Vienna Tech (Austria). He has over 40 years of experience in teaching, research and consulting in the evaluation and programming of environments, including health care facilities, public housing, public libraries, cross-cultural and universal design, as well as design research in general.

He has published 20 books and over 130 chapters, monographs, and articles. Most recent books include: Architecture Beyond Criticism: Expert Judgment and Performance Evaluation (Routledge, 2015); Enhancing Building Performance (Wiley, 2012); Universal Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2010); Designing for Designers: Lessons Learned From Schools of Architecture (Fairchild, 2007). Preiser has lectured worldwide at 69 venues and conferences in the United States and Canada, as well as 86 overseas. He has served on national committees with the American Institute of Architects, the Building Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Institute for Disability Rehabilitation Research.

Preiser has received many awards, including: 2 Progressive Architecture Awards; 2 Professional Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; The Career Award from the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), 2 EDRA Achievement Awards, as well as other awards while at the University of Cincinnati.

Andrea E. Hardy, Creo Architects, holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Arizona State University (2012), and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute of Technology (2007).

She has been working in architecture offices for the past twelve years both during and between obtaining her degrees. After working professionally in Boston and Phoenix, and studying public architecture through Arizona State University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Hardy is currently an Associate and Registered Architect working at Creo Architects in Phoenix, Arizona.

While at Arizona State University, Hardy was a member of the American Institute of Architecture Students, served one term as Secretary for the American Institute of Architecture Students, was a teaching assistant for a design studio and history class, received multiple scholarships, and participated in non-academic activities such as working on multiple design competitions, workshops, and volunteer work.

Recently, Hardy was published as co-editor and co-author in Architecture Beyond Criticism: Expert Judgment and Performance Evaluation (2015), contributed to updating Improving Building Performance NCARB Monograph series (2016), and is currently working on, as an editor, the forthcoming second edition to Building Performance Evaluation (exp 2017).

Jacob J. Wilhelm holds a Bachelor of Science in Design in Architectural Studies from Arizona State University (2016). He is the recipient of many awards and grants based on his work in design and publication. While at Arizona State University, Wilhelm held various leadership roles, serving with Alpha Rho Chi as President and with the American Institute of Architecture Students, Students for the New Urbanism, and the Student Planning Association. Both as an individual and collaborating with students in the fields of Architecture, Industrial Design, Urban Planning, and more, Wilhelm has been awarded in multiple local design competitions as sponsored by Arizona Residential Architects, the Scottsdale Museum of Art, and Arizona State University. He is committed to expanding architectural discourse through interdisciplinary study, research, and theory, and his current focus is in architectural practice and publication.