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NINE SHEARING LAYERS OF CHANGE — building components and how they interact with each other
Facility managers should understand built environment components and how they interact with the organization and people. This understanding will help facility managers integrate new frameworks like the Baukultur Quality System (presented in section IV) into practice. The built environment consists of nine shearing, or pace layers, which change at different times. An intervention at a fundamental layer (e.g., site selection) can last 50 or more years. In contrast, an intervention at the level of "stuff" (e.g., furnishings) is more ephemeral, lasting only a few years. Due to the interaction of these layers, no two buildings, even ones constructed and owned by the same operator, are ever identical. Extending earlier work[20] and tailoring it to facility management,[21] we have defined the shearing layers as follows:
Shearing Layers of Change
Shearing Layers of Change
1. SCALE
Constant Flux of Change
Surrounding larger-scale system of buildings and infrastructure
A building never stands alone and is embedded in a larger-scale system of buildings and infrastructure. On our way to work, we may drive on highways, streets and alleys; pass bridges, traffic lights and intersections; and observe other buildings along the way. We also envisage an individual building embedded in a broader family of buildings: a building complex, industrial zone, shopping mall, business district, neighborhood, campus, village, district or city. All are imprinted in our minds, establishing a mental map through a built environment to a destination.
2. SITE
100+ Years
Environment in which buildings are situated, which can be altered
A building is grounded on a lot or occasionally could be floating on water. A site may be hidden by the construction or bordered by pavement, garden or fence. Arrival at the building communicates much about the organization to the trained eye. Looking down and around the site serves as a signifier of an organization. Its population, sobriety, neglect or care are often evident at first glance. These immanent visual messages act as a daily dose of "this is how we do things here," immersing people in a meaningful geographical setting from the gate to the entrance.
3. STRUCTURE
~50–100 Years
Primary structural systems of buildings
A building consists of a foundation and loadbearing components, like the roof, walls and floor. A roof may be carried by wall, beam and column, transferring its weight to the floor, transverse a ceiling, then to the wall, beam or column below. They do so repeatedly until the roof's weight hits the foundation. Together, these primary forms define the interior spatial possibilities for organizations from attic to basement. The structure frames the opportunities for organizational resilience and change. When columns and side-bearing walls replaced internal load-bearing partition walls, it created previously unattainable wide spaces with enormous flexibility of use over the building's life expectancy.
4. SKIN
~25–50 Years
Building enclosures, if properly designed, repairs will be minimized
A building's exterior consists of a facade with a door and windows and possibly a balcony, veranda or gallery. This layer is the building's main connector to the surrounding world — from the outside-in and inside-out. The skin shows its shape, size, colors, textures and cladding to the environment. Doors regulate accessibility, allowing people to enter and leave. Windows define connectivity and privacy, enabling users to affect their well-being by providing views of the world and the ability to regulate light, fresh air, temperature and noise levels.
5. SYSTEMS
~15–25 Years Array of technical systems inside a building A building contains a complex array of technical systems. These systems are often invisible, hidden behind or incorporated into ceilings, walls or floors. They significantly impact a building's functionality. Such systems are the building intestines and often constitute the world of engineers with installations, fittings, piping, wiring, sensors and routers. These systems regulate the supply of water, air and electricity. They provide heating and cooling, artificial light and access to the internet. They drain and dispose of waste materials. Systems provide for Maslow's basic human needs — nourishment, hygiene, safety and security — so people can work, learn and socialize no matter the time or place.
6. SPACE PLAN
~5–15 Years
Interior space alterations including walls, flooring and ceilings
The non-supporting walls and partitions constitute the space plan. These walls and partitions provide designers or planners with many possibilities to limit or expand main spaces within a building. A designer or planner can decrease or increase the size of an area, affecting the size of a group that can use a space. The space plan can divide or connect humans. The following elements and their spatial positioning determine a space plan: stair, escalator, elevator, ramp, corridor, fireplace and toilet. These elements create a spatial logic or grammar that denotes how a building should be understood and read. The space plan defines group formation, working routines, social structures and chance encounters.
7. STUFF
~0–5 Years Various furniture, supplies and storage place in buildings
The stuff inside mediates users' experiences within buildings. Stuff includes furniture, furnishings, and the use of materials and colors, including art, plants and signage. It is the most appealing layer for many, as stuff viscerally affects our senses. Its condition can make a space aesthetically, ergonomically and acoustically pleasing. Its state determines how users experience buildings. The interior architect or designer can use these elements to create a targeted atmosphere, absorb or amplify sound, brighten or dim a building, or nudge people in the right direction.
8. SERVICES
~15–25 Years
The work that is done to facilitate people and maintain buildings
Buildings need a wide array of services to maintain a built environment and serve its inhabitants. A building needs reception, catering, hospitality, safety and security services. For example, the site may need gardening services. Surrounding pavements or roads need sweeping, and various machines need repairing or replacing. Security services assure that the right people access the building and ensure occupant safety and security. Windows, floors and furniture need regular cleaning. These services are critical for a building's upkeep. Services fulfill people's physiological needs, including safety, belongingness and comfort.
9. SOULS
Constant Flux of Change
Occupants experiencing a building through their senses
The final sheering layer is also the most fleeting. It consists of the human layer and how occupants experience a building through the human senses. We perceive and judge the building and its other eight layers quickly. We attribute meaning to a building, which can make a significant or terrible impression. A building can make us happy or inspire us, and it can also frighten or repulse us. Spaces can be socially engaging and help us with the things we need to do by stimulating human interaction, providing structure to our work, or providing affordances to help us concentrate on a complicated task. Buildings are more than mere spatial containers; they are living spaces where the quality of life can be felt and experienced.
Understanding how these shearing layers interact is critical for designing and retrofitting more people-oriented, sustainable buildings. For example, senior leaders in many organizations have imposed net-zero targets, and facility managers must make buildings more carbon efficient. In many cases, facility managers try to achieve carbon neutrality goals by focusing on level 5 — Systems — interventions. FM teams remove emissions from the building by replacing gas-powered HVAC systems with heat pumps. Often, they do so without considering changes to the building envelope, level 4 — Skin. By changing heat pumps (level 5) without considering changes to the building envelope (level 4), they are, in effect, making buildings colder and less welcoming for occupants (level 9 — Souls). Colder environments, for instance, are not only less comfortable for women, they also impact women's cognitive performance.[22]
The built environment encompasses many professional disciplines that finance, develop, plan, design, build, operate, maintain and recycle its components. Facility management is one of these disciplines and is one of the few that works closely with other professions like real estate brokers, architects, interior designers, contractors, engineers, urban planners, environmentalists, technologists, sociologists and more. Strengthening facility managers’ multidisciplinarity is vital to the industry’s future.
Sources/References
[20] S. Brand. (1994). How buildings learn: what happens after they're built. New York, NY, USA: Viking.,F. Duffy. (1977). Office interiors and organizations: a comparative study of the relation between organizational structure and the use of interior space in sixteen office organizations (dissertation). Princeton, NJ., and R. Koolhaas, J. Westcott, B Davis, T. Avermaete, R. Bego, S. Trüby, M. Mostafavi, Izdatelʹskai︠a︡ gruppa AMO, Harvard University. Graduate School of Design, & International Architectural Exhibition (14th : 2014 : Venice, Italy). (2014). Elements. Marsilio Editori Spa.
[21] M.P. Mobach. (2009). Een organisatie van vlees en steen. [In Dutch, An organization of flesh and stone]. Royal Van Gorcum.
[22] T. Chang et al. (2019). ”Battle for the thermostat: gender and the effect of temperature on cognitive performance.” Plos One (May 22). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216362