Do houses evolve? The intuitive answer would have to be yes. The general assessment that houses are better apparently supports that conclusion, as does the fact that those improvements occurred incrementally over the last century or so with the steady introduction and refinement of indoor plumbing, central heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, electric lighting. Despite a certain resistance to the conditions of rapid change, best characterized in architecture by historic preservation, belief in evolutionary development is now so very widely accepted that the collective attention of designers has shifted to the process of adaptation itself, to anticipating and providing for the next technique, device, or development.