Architecture is adaptive if it can instantaneously change both shape and function in a short period of time.
Architecture adaptability is closely linked to sustainable architecture. It is one of the two major aspects of architecture’s behaviour over time. The other aspect is flexibility and you can read about it here.
The ultimately sustainable building is a building that you can recycle. Instead of demolishing the building, you can adapt it to change. The challenge is to do buildings which encourage change, which respond to change, and have technologies and techniques which enable buildings to improve their performance.
Lord Norman Foster, 2019
Alternative Realities | Approaches to Adaptive Reuse in Architecture