Life expectancy in architecture and construction is defined in different ways. Technical durability, which is crucial for the existence and usability of buildings, seems to be the most important of them. Designers and investors’ attitude towards this problem is inconsistent. The paradigm of sustainable architecture brought a different approach to this issue and made it more significant both in professional discussion and practice. The durability of buildings with its relation to embodied energy in technologies and materials has become an important feature of architecture and brought substantial modification to the designing process. This paper presents different approaches to the problem in some countries as well as ambiguities and inconsistencies in pertinent views.

Life expectancy in architecture and construction is defined in different ways. Technical durability, which is crucial for the existence and usability of buildings, seems to be the most important of them. Designers and investors’ attitude towards this problem is inconsistent. The paradigm of sustainable architecture brought a different approach to this issue and made it more significant both in professional discussion and practice. The durability of buildings with its relation to embodied energy in technologies and materials has become an important feature of architecture and brought substantial modification to the designing process. This paper presents different approaches to the problem in some countries as well as ambiguities and inconsistencies in pertinent views.