Examination of green buildings in terms of flexible architectural criteria

In the building life cycle process, there is an increasing demand for green buildings that can respond to the desires, needs, requirements of building users, and environmental factors, while also adopting sustainability principles in terms of energy, resources, and cost. Upon examining existing studies, it has been observed that the number of studies addressing both sustainable and flexible architectural design in green buildings is insufficient. This situation underscores the necessity for research that focuses on solutions combining sustainability and flexibility in green building design. In this context, the primary objective of this study is to ensure that the design of green buildings is aligned with user needs in terms of sustainability and flexibility. Green buildings with sustainable and flexible architectural designs have the potential to minimize environmental impacts and quickly adapt to changing user demands. The study is conducted in four stages. In the first stage, a literature review is conducted on sustainability, green building concepts, and green building certification systems by examining both domestic and foreign sources. In the second stage, flexibility concepts, flexible architecture, and criteria for flexible architecture are determined by considering the opinions of influential architects through a review of domestic and foreign sources. In the third stage, green building examples certified with LEED, BREEAM, and DGNB are selected, and their flexible architectural criteria and sustainability features are examined. In the final stage, the findings are evaluated, and the contribution of green buildings with flexible architectural design features to building sustainability is observed. In conclusion, this study, by combining sustainable and flexible architectural design in green buildings, represents a significant step towards explaining how these two designs are integrated and how a building accommodates this dual aspect, providing valuable insights for the construction of future buildings. Keywords: Sustainability, Flexible Architecture, Green Building, Green Building Certification Systems