The Process of Systematic and Rigorous Assessment of Buildings - Essay Example

? Research topic: Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Introduction The housing demand is one of the most important issues and challenges facing developing and developed countries, and both of them have tried to solve their housing demands by different policies. Some of the policies and proposals have met the needs of the different levels of society. One of these economic classes is called the low income, which has become a new challenge in different countries. Saudi Arabia is now suffering from low income therefore, it needs to establish a form of residential complexes for low income people. This concept is a new policy, as well as a new trial, for it has been chosen as the issue to discuss the housing policy for this category which will be assessed by post occupancy evaluation method. However, what does POE mean? There are a number of definitions of POE, all generally in accord with, and built around, the central theme of the simple statement (Preiser et al., 1988) that “post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is the process of evaluating buildings in a systematic and rigorous manner after they have been built and occupied for some time” Vischer ( 2001, pg.23). This defines POE as “any and all activities that originate out of an interest in learning how a building performs once it is built, including if and how well it has met expectations”. The RIBA Research Steering Group (RIBA, 1991, p.191) defined POE as “a systematic study of buildings in use to provide architects with information about the performance of their designs and building owners and users with guidelines to achieve the best out of what they already have.” Preiser (1995, p.19; 1997) to, stressing another perspective i.e that of the facility manager, defined POE as “a diagnostic tool and system which allows facility managers to identify and evaluate critical aspects of building performance systematically.” Clearly a POE may be carried out by a range of different building industry professionals, or as quite often occurs, by the client or building owner. Aim Investigating the success of the low-income housing strategy, was introduced by Millennium Charity and Development Foundation (MCDF). The MCDF was one of the top contributors to investigating the success of low-income housing. This is done through investigating the satisfaction of the users within one of their projects. Objectives/ more aims 1- To study the theory of post-occupancy evaluation, its emergence, and its importance. 2- To understand the importance of POE for creating better houses for low income people. 3- To critically evaluate literature about international housing policies and compare it to housing policies in Saudi Arabia using POE approach. 4- To assess a case study by using the post-occupancy evaluation of the:------ METHOD a- Functional aspect b- Social views c- Technical factors ----- 5- To evaluate building performance, by incorporating the feedback from the residents. Research Questions: To what extent are the users satisfied with current housing design? What is post-occupancy evaluation? Why is it important? How is it applied How did it emerge? What are the international housing and Saudi housing policies? What are the differences? How to assess a case study by using POE for functional aspect, social views and technical factors? How to evaluate building performance by taking account of resident's feedback into account? methodology Literature Review : Define both the area and the nature of POE that enhances the understanding of the concept, the scope and the process of POE, international policies for low-income housing, low-income housing in Saudi Arabia and analyze case study. Questionnaire design methodology: It will be designed based on POE theory, and will deliver the questionnaire to the residents of Algazalh district. How many people? How many sites? Please define much more detail Clearly say what you will do POE is not just theory people have methods for it see Leaman also Preiser Structure of the research Chapter 1: Introduction Aims Hypothesis Objectives Methodology Chapter 2: Introduction of POE History and background of POE Uses of POE Process of POE Benefits of POE Chapter 3: International policies for low-income housing. low-income housing in Saudi Arabia. Chapter 4: General information about Saudi Arabia. General information of case study. Analyze case study Chapter 5: Questionnaire design methodology Questionnaire finding and analysis chapter Chapter 6: ANALYSIS Discussion. Chapter 7 Conclusions. recommendations REFERENCES in separate chapter History and Background of Post Occupancy Evaluation Over the past few years, the area that gained more attention of business industry experts and researchers concerns identifying the ways in which the building attributes affect its users. Additionally, people are more inclined by making a better use of this knowledge and information so that they will develop the design of the building accordingly. "Intelligence gaining" is the term which is used for research conducted on building performance as stated by Vischer (2009). The procedures used for evaluating building performance comprise of users’ experiences regarding environmental satisfaction and comfort along with individual measurements and data concerning to various building systems. However, this information is not considered valid until there is evidence about how the users are influenced (Vischer, 2009). The main constituent of the POE model is how the level of satisfaction is measured among the users by using the characteristics of physical surroundings. In the 1960s and 1970s, this concept was initiated in which the surveys were usually done to ascertain the housing satisfaction of residents within their surroundings (Vischer, 1985). The assessment was completed from the information gathered from the thoughts and feelings of occupants by using interviews, field observations, questionnaires and site visits, and became well-known in other amenities like hospitals, courthouses, army barracks and prisons (Khalil and Husin, 2009). The practice of POE is very old, and is reviewed in National Academy Report Learning from our Buildings: a State of the Practice Summary of Post Occupancy by Preizer (2001). He also wrote a book on Assessing Building Performance that explains the fundamentals of knowing various processes of evaluating building performance comprising of POE; in addition, he also gave the required understanding and information about questionnaires that are essential when conducting POE. Generally, POE is elucidated in British Council for Offices Guide to Post Occupancy Evaluation (2007) and from here, everyone can acquire awareness of POE practices. The two mentioned books are known for their great assistance in conducting such difficult researches. Process of Post Occupancy Evaluation There are three main stages that contribute to POE. The stages are planning, conducting and applying. (FFC, 2002, p.11) Planning In the planning stage of conducting POE, all the beginning constraints are developed and, after that, a plan has to be developed for gathering information, time management and the sampling of contestants. The purpose of making this plan is to ensure that the process of POE is well organized. The strengths and weaknesses are defined at this stage - the people who are influenced by POE have to be classified as well. SURVEY The important facet in conducting POE is a gathering of data. In the survey stage, the method of the data gathering is instituted, managed and observed on the basis of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. This is to ensure that the collected data is in accordance with the goals and objectives of POE. Once the evaluation is done, the collected data is to be examined, which comprises the elucidation of questions that have been asked at the start of the research. ANALYSIS This stage of POE entails recording the findings, suggesting actions and checking the final outcomes. This stage is considered to be the most important one, as the solutions have to be recognized by making suggestions for the prospective actions. Finally, the results of actions have to be crucially observed as the POE’s values and benefits are determined at this stage. Benefits in adopting Post Occupancy Evaluations Benefits are there for building designers, owners and users, when companies plan, conduct and develop POEs. Some of the benefits are: Recognizing dysfunctional building traits and their eradication which is helpful in the future designing's of buildings (Watson, 2003). Recognizing the lucrative layouts that are to be repeated (Watson, 2003). Better awareness among occupants regarding the layouts which is helpful in making the POE practices favorable - it also contributes in the overall improvement (Watson, 2003). A superior decision making power and the ability to manage things properly (Baird, 2001). Decline in the total expenses (British Council for Offices, 2007) and the ratio of the return on investment is high in people and buildings (Baird, 2001). Upgrading the set standards and targets (British Council for Offices, 2007). The liberty that is given to the building users for giving their feedback on their built surroundings (Watson, 2003). Case study Low income housing is a main requirement of many developed and developing countries. Conducting necessary studies about low income housing and implementing policies in order to provide economical solutions to provide appropriate housing to millions of poor people around the world. Different organizations worldwide have played an active role in the development of housing models for low income housing, some of which have succeeded in providing appropriate housing to low-income people. In recent years, the government of Saudi Arabia has started providing houses to needy families, so a number of housing projects were built in different parts of the country; Algazala is one such project, provided for low income people and in this research the Algazala project will be the case study which will be evaluated using POE (Post-occupancy evaluation), by implementing a questionnaire on the residents of Algazala project to identify the advantages and disadvantages of these houses. Algazala, which is located in the region of Ha'il, is one of the many low-income housing projects that the government of Saudi Arabia has built for needy people. It was built in 2007 and it contains 254 housing units, two schools, two mosques, a health centre and a community Centre, as it shown in picture (1). Site plan of Algazalh project Picture (1): Show the housing units and public services of the project This project has been designed a standard prototype, and each prototype is included that 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, guest room and two bathrooms, as it has been shown in the picture (2) Picture (2): ground floor plan The questionnaire will be designed and delivers to the residents of Algazalh district, for the following reasons: Who is it aimed at? Why? And how will it benefit this study? The questionnaire will be aimed at the residents of Algazlah project for a number of reasons to determine how convenient their houses are. Did it deliver their needs? If they had a choice what would they done differently? It is also aimed to the residents because they deal with their house on daily basis and they could reflect better than anyone else viewing it on a map or seeing it once. Also, the resident deals with the house in different weather conditions for a long time, which enables him to comment on things an inspector may not spot. And finally we are building these houses for the residents and for their comfort, and no one will know what comforts them better than themselves. HOW MANY PEOPLE ETC Methodology/ Detail this all yours are too brief /Give a step by step account-----VERY IMPORTANT Note you need an ANALYSIS section then Discussion   REFERENCES is a separate section   Show a GANTT chart    Keep all Background material in the Introduction not clutter up the main text   References: THESE ARE VERY BRIEF PLEASE LOOK UP A LEAMAN’[S WORK AND Bill Bordass Look up the PROBE study etc Lots more to cover yet this is only a slim start Baird, G. (2001). Post-occupancy evaluation and Probe: a New Zealand perspective, Building Research & Information 29(6), pp. 469-472. British Council for Offices (2007).Guide to Post Occupancy Evaluation, document available at http://www.bco.org.uk/research/researchreports/detail.cfm?rid=99 Federal Facilities Council (2002). Learning from our Buildings: A State-of-the-Practice Summary of Post-Occupancy Evaluation, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., Technical Report No. 145. Khalil, N. and Husin, H.N. (2009).Post Occupancy Evaluation towards Indoor Environment Improvement in Malaysia’s Office Buildings, Journal of sustainable development 2 (1), pp. 186-191. Preiser, W. F. E., Rabinowitz, H. Z., and White, E. T. (1988).Post-occupancy evaluation, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. Preiser, W. F. E. (1995). “Post-Occupancy Evaluation: How To Make Buildings Work Better”, Facilities, 13 (11) , 19 Preiser, W. F.E. (2001). Feedback, feedforward and control: post-occupancy evaluation to the rescue, Building Research & Information 29(6), 456–459 RIBA, R. S. G. (1991). “A Research Report for the Architectural Profession”. In: Duffy, F. w. L. H. (ed.) Architectural knowledge: the idea of a profession, E & FN Spon, London, Vischer, J.C. (1985). The adaptation and control model of user needs: A new direction for housing research, Journal of Environmental Psychology 5 (4), pp 287-298 Vischer, J. (2001). “Post-Occupancy Evaluation: A Multifaceted Tool for Building Improvement”, Learning from our buildings: a state-of-the-practice summary of post-occupancy evaluation, Washington DC, National Academy Press, 23-34. Vischer, J.C. (2009). Applying knowledge on building performance: From evidence to intelligence, Intelligent Buildings International 1, pp. 239-248. Watson, C. (2003). Review of building quality using post occupancy evaluation,Journal of Programme Education Building. Vol. 35, pp. 1-5. Khaleej, Times.(2009). Saudia Arabia on Low-cost Housing, Khaleej Times. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=11&sid=848f8491-6ab1-4cf6-96f6372c696e1058%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nfh&AN=2W62W63525225755  Arabia. (2007). King directs government to speed up measures to carry out housing city project, Jordanian News agency. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=11&sid=848f8491-6ab1-4cf6-96f6372c696e1058%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nfh&AN=6FI3529063667 Read More