Flexibility. In line with the popular adage that change is the only constant, nearly every client will ask for a flexible building. In general, flexibility means that the building should be able to accommodate changes in use without costing the earth, with minimal disruption to the clients business processes. That, however, is too broad a requirement to be of any use in a brief. A brief should therefore explain what kind and what degree of flexibility is required.Most clients will seek operational, short-term flexibility. This means that they want to be able to move people around in their building, on a frequent basis, without too much effort. This kind of flexibility is associated with common technical solutions such as movable partitions, large column-free floors and easily adjustable building systems. Flexibility can also mean that the client is seeking multifunctional spaces. Think of a company restaurant that can double as a work/meeting space outside lunch hours, or a school sports hall that can be used for exams and school plays. Such multifunctionality should be explicitly defined in the brief because it entails practical implications for aspects like acoustics and technical services. Some clients seek flexibility of a greater magnitude. Anticipating changes in the size of their organization, they may ask for a building that can easily be subdivided and sublet to external parties. When expecting growth, they may ask for an oversized building and/or possibilities to expand the building. In the latter case, the question is then how much expansion should be catered for. Would adding one extra floor be sufficient, or should the building be able to double in size? In extreme cases, clients may even ask for buildings that can be demounted and assembled at another location.When thinking about flexibility, it is important to realize that flexibility often comes with a cost. Adding extra capacity to an hvac-system, for example, will call for additional investment. Therefore, flexibility should also be seen in relation to the certainty and frequency of change. While it may well be that change is the only constant, some organizations are more volatile than others, and flexibility requirements may thus differ from organization to organization.Strategic brief-Try to identify plausible future organization changes (e.g. growth, shrinkage). See also page 113.-Look at the organizations churn rate (the percentage of the total number occupants that has been moved in a year) to get an idea of its volatility. Functional brief-Identify the potential for multifunctional spaces.-Align room sizes and qualities, allowing the functions of rooms to be changed by changing the furniture only.Technical brief-Ask for a certain degree of overcapacity (e.g. 20%) in the buildings infrastructure (in shafts and elevators, and in systems for lighting, power, data, ventilation, cooling).-Ask for switch systems and building management systems that make it easy to change the distribution of data, power, light and air to individual spaces. -Require that small changes can be made without the involvement of outside contractors.