The concept of flexibility in industrial buildings repurposed for cultural purposes

The concept of flexibility has become an integral part of our daily lives and has found its place in most professions. Throughout their lives, people need a built environment to meet their various needs. When creating a built environment, the pursuit of comfort also comes into play. Therefore, the concept of flexibility has manifested itself in architecture, just as it has in many other professions. Thanks to the concept of flexibility, attempts have been made to keep pace with the changes and developments that have taken place. All developments and innovations can render previously constructed industrial buildings obsolete. These buildings need to be repurposed for sustainability, taking into account their spatial and historical characteristics. Through repurposing, obsolete buildings can be transformed into new spaces we need with minimal resource use. Over time, industrial buildings remaining in city centres become suitable for repurposing. The study questioned the reasons behind the repurposing of industrial structures for artistic and cultural uses and sought to answer this question through the concept of flexibility. Within this scope, architectural analyses were conducted on the flexibility strategies of five industrial structures selected from different countries that had lost their original function and were subsequently converted into cultural structures. The study found that the repurposing of industrial buildings constructed with flexible design decisions for cultural purposes contributes to the creation of the flexible design concept required by cultural buildings.