Stability in Motion: Adaptive Strategies, Levels and Conditions of Domestic Acceptability in Compact Homes

Urban housing pressure requires compact dwellings to support multiple domestic activities within limited floor area. Adaptive interiors can redistribute functions across time, but their value depends on whether recurrent spatial change remains understandable, controllable and workable in everyday life. This study compares adaptive residential strategies and conditions under which their spatial and functional benefits remain domestically acceptable. A sequential mixed-methods design combined a UK-based survey (N = 460), five focus groups (N = 36) and immersive virtual-reality (VR) testing (N = 35) of 15 prototypes at 15, 25 and 37 m2. Outcomes included perceived spatial quality, perceived functionality, combined adequacy across six domestic functions and a composite ranking. Across all three study phases, bounded deterministic automated adaptation showed the most consistent balance between spatial and functional performance and domestic acceptability. In VR, Category 3 performed most favourably relative to the fixed baseline at 15 and 25 m2, while at 37 m2, this advantage narrowed or reversed across headline outcomes. Manual reconfiguration was constrained by repeated resident effort, while more open-ended systems attracted weaker support where behaviour was harder to anticipate. Adaptive value depends on matching the level and form of change to spatial need while preserving intelligibility, resident control and domestic stability.