What the study found
The special issue presents Open Building (OB) as a set of ideas and practices that have moved well beyond its original focus on post-World War II housing in the Netherlands. Across the articles, OB is shown being used in built projects, research buildings, schools, heritage reuse, urban planning, and design education.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that OB is relevant because it may help address climate instability, rapid urbanization, and the need for greater socio-spatial agency. A synthetic commentary in the issue also says OB is well-positioned to address today's polycrisis through new ways of conceptualizing, financing, designing, constructing, and maintaining urban environments.
What the researchers tested
This special issue collects historical reflections, longitudinal case studies, an urban literature review, a pedagogical study, and a proposed adaptive reuse project. The papers discuss built examples such as multi-use buildings, a research test bed, California schools, a church reuse proposal in Turkiye, and a literature-based planning toolkit.
What worked and what didn't
Several articles report that OB strategies supported flexibility, adaptability, and user or stakeholder participation. Examples include adaptable building supports, a test bed that enabled dozens of research projects, school designs that accommodated program changes, and a proposed heritage reuse scheme with modular and reversible elements. One studio-based teaching study found OB useful for systems thinking and time-based awareness, but student results were uneven and technical and logistical development was limited.
What to keep in mind
The summary provided here is a special-issue introduction, so many claims are based on the included papers rather than a single unified experiment. Some projects are proposals or early-stage cases, and at least one education study notes that stronger evidence would require longer-term study. The abstract also notes that the literature review for PLANiT did not explicitly focus on OB and excluded several source types.
- Open Building is described as having expanded from post-war Dutch housing to many building and urban contexts.
- The issue includes case studies of adaptable buildings, a research test bed, school buildings, heritage reuse, and an urban planning toolkit.
- Several articles report that OB principles supported flexibility, modularity, and stakeholder participation.
- One education study found OB useful for systems thinking, but student outcomes were uneven.
- The authors say OB may help address climate instability, rapid urbanization, and socio-spatial agency.
