Comparative Study between the Spatial Flexibility in Contemporary Apartments and Future Smart Apartments in Iraq

Abstract

Technological advancements over the last decade has led to changes in people`s preferences and lifestyle which needs to be reflected in the design and planning of urban environments. It has become essential to pursue, create homes with greater agility, better interrelationships of components and more open systems. Contemporary homes are hugely difficult to modify as most building have fixed and static structure. The most common concept of space in current dwellings is its categorization by functions, such as sleeping rooms, bathroom and living room. Rather than requiring users to shift, twist, and surrender to fit into static environments, the new architecture should technologically adapt to support the building sustainability by ensuring users‟ wellbeing and safety, long term value of the building and its efficiency. In this context, Efficiency indicates Spatial Flexibility which enhances the quality of inner space. Spatial Flexibility is the capacity of inner spaces to be: Adaptive, Responsive and Resilient. The main aim of the research is: to clarify the impact of smart technology to improve flexibility in inner spaces and to evaluate the level of spatial flexibility between smart and contemporary apartment. The researcher employed qualitative analysis methodology to test experimental prototypes designed by researcher and investigate the impact of use of Smart technology on spatial flexibility in contemporary house and in future smart house in Sulaymaniyah (Kurdistan region of Iraq). The empirical nature of our case study led us to organize the research into two levels: theoretical level to form conceptual structure and practical level in which we chose two models smart and contemporary. Results explained that smart homes display an improved spatial flexibility than contemporary homes by the effective use of space for the full range of functions using smart devices.