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One of the key issues in building construction is environmental sustainability. Conventional methods of construction do not consider the in-built capacity to adapt over time according to new technical requirements and environmental consequences. Therefore, any change or renovation of the building will result in significant cost and lost use during its lifecycle. Designing flexible buildings for easy change and adaptation will assist the main concept of sustainability by reducing material and energy consumption as well as environmental pollution. This study investigates various literatures to determine the criteria they offer for flexible design. Firstly, the paper synthesises a conceptual framework for the structure of the relationship among types of changes and transformations in building as well as required reactions to changes. Secondly, design criteria in building construction, including durability, adaptability, installation and dismantling techniques are presented. A broad discussion of the important design strategies for these criteria and some examples from successful application has been presented. Finally, it has been tried to compile and reflect the key milestones in flexible building techniques and challenges ahead. By drawing together flexible building techniques in a single discussion, this paper offer valuable insights for improving the longevity of buildings and reducing the time and cost associated with reconstruction while conserving the environment.

Thick population density and its escalation propensity in seismically active regions of Pakistan has raised sincere concerns about the performance of building stock whose suboptimal performance and complete collapses led to a colossal number of casualties during the past earthquakes. The current research is inspired by the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 which consumed more than 80,000 lives, out of which, approximately 19,000 were children due to wide spread collapse of school buildings. A new database for existing reinforced concrete (RC) school buildings in seismic zone 4 of Pakistan has been developed using the surveyed information and presented briefly. The paper presents the statistics of the data collected through field surveys and professional interviews. It was found that the infrastructural authorities in the considered region developed some specific designs for school buildings, with varying architectural and structural configurations, which were eventually replicated throughout the area. In the current study, almost 2500 schools were surveyed for identifying versatile architectural and structural configurations, and subsequently, 19 different types had been identified, which were eventually used as representative stock for the schools in seismic zone 4 of Pakistan, Muzaffarabad district. The results of the study yield the brief of the collected data from the field and a consolidated methodology for establishing the analytical fragility relationships for one of the 19 structural configurations of the school buildings. A sample building from the collected data has been selected by considering the maximum number of students, and afterwards, the vulnerability is assessed by employing incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) which constitutes the presented methodology. Finally, the fragility curves are developed and presented for the said building type. The derived analytical fragility curves for the considered building type indicate its structural vulnerability and as a whole represent its satisfactory behavior. The vulnerability assessment process and the fragility development are described in an easy manner so that the domestic practicing engineers can readily become able to extend the application towards other school buildings in the region. The developed relationships can be employed for rational decision making so that essential disaster preparedness can be carried out by identifying any need for structural strengthening and interventions.

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