131
Time and the
Layer-Stratification
Mindset
Though time is an indirect dimension of construction, it is no less important than localisation. It
calls for consideration of often-overlooked factors such as occupancy, flexibility and the lifecycle of
different materials, and the related issues of the replacement and recyclability of building components,
which might also be determined by changing values, tastes and lifestyles.
This requires
a
new mindset that focuses on the long-term performance of
a
building rather than
how it is put together. According to Frank Duffy, quoted in Stewart Brand’s book
How Buildings
Learn
(1994), ‘there isn’t such
a
thing as
a
building. A building properly conceived is several layers
of longevity of built components.’4 Duffy’s concept of shearing layers was further elaborated by
Brand in his proposal of six differently paced systems of Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space Plan
and Stuff.5 The pace levels of these layers have different effects on the whole: ‘the quick processes
provide originality and challenge, the slow provide continuity and constraint’.6 Layers are not
therefore material elements, but rather conceptual frames that allow building designs to accommodate
technological and organisational change. Disconnection or intervals between layers are essential ...
