Exploring important factors influence demand for flexible windows: a quantitative study of Universiti Technologi Malaysia staff / Vahid Moghimi and Mahmud Mohd Jusan

The current trend in mass produced housing in Malaysia includes the provision of housing unit which are not easily adaptable to the lifestyle changes of users. Consequently, various architectural elements of housing units including windows are subject to modification. This phenomenon is evident when 42% of the respondents of this research experienced window replacement in their homes. This study has been undertaken with particular focus on users’ reasons for having flexible windows. To achieve this, quantitative surveys were carried out among staff members of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The results indicate 74.4% of the users, spread among various social groups, are enthusiastic about having flexible windows installed in their houses. Consideration of this demand for flexible windows reveals that personalized housing and the various levels of environmental comfort shows parallelism. Flexible windows are in demand to fulfil physical and psychological housing needs. By linking the user’s needs to flexible windows, user-congruence environment, hence propagation of sustainable living environment will be improved

Evaluation of Conceptual Properties by Layperson in Residential Façade Designs

When it comes to aesthetic evaluation of a design, architects and non-architects differ from each other. This study demonstrates how aesthetic evaluation of buildings could be predicted. These predictions are important for architects as they can be used to find the users preferences and expectations of the design. Preference is considered to involve conceptual evaluation about whether the design is liked or disliked. In environmental preference, this type of conceptual evaluation might be conscious or unconscious. The aim of this study is to identify the essential conceptual properties that are related to aesthetic evaluation of façade designs using qualitative methodology. As a result it can be concluded that not all the conceptual properties are related to aesthetic evaluation of the design. Some conceptual properties are not important from the eye of non-architects and some are highly important. Findings of this research could help architects to understand the perception of non-architects. Keywords: Aesthetic evaluation, Conceptual properties, Environmental Perception, Façade design, User preferenc

Choice behaviour of housing attributes: theory and measurement

Preferences and choices in a society are constant dynamic operations, made based on the behavioural dynamism of people. In this cosmic dynamism, they keep shifting from one stage to another, within the same cosmic space. Housing preferences and choices, like any other life interests, therefore operate within this framework. Unlike merchandized products brands, housing brands are hardly known, probably because of the heterogeneous nature of the housing product - the house. However, very little is known about the relevant housing attributes (refer to page 7). Housing preferences and choices operate within the framework of preferences and choices for housing attributes. In any preference and choice activity, there are underlying motivations that make it possible for an individual to choose from available alternatives within a given product field. This paper examines and outlines the methodological and theoretical framework of housing preferences and choices, based on the theory of means-end chain (MEC). Previous MEC applications in the field of architecture and urban design have been very useful and successful. The paper attempts to explore from literature the possibility of extending the previous methods and their applicability in design process. In dealing with user preference for housing, there is a need for research for a development of a technological tool to identify user needs and preference, and the kind of decision support that is required to identify these needs

Housing Choice and Preference: Theory and Measurement

AbstractPreferences and choices in a society are constant dynamic operations, based upon the behavioral dynamism of people. Housing preferences and choices operate within the framework of preferences and choices for housing attributes. There are underlying motivations that make it possible for an individual to choose from available alternatives within a given product field. This paper examines and outlines the methodological and theoretical framework of housing preferences and choices, based on the theory of means-end chain (MEC). In dealing with user preference of housing, there is a need for research for a development of a technological tool for the identification of user needs and preference

House Design Preferred by Malay Wives

Previous studies suggest that home activities affect house design significantly. This paper aims at identifying roles and household activities of Malay wives and their relationship with house design preferences. A study was carried out on selected working and non-working Malay wives of Bandar Tenggara, Johor, Malaysia, using a combination of structured and semi-structured questionnaire survey. The results suggest that activities such as cooking and other day-to-day operations have some correlation with their sense of space. The results suggest that patterns of housewives’ home activities affect their house design preferences.Keywords: Home activities; house design; women preferences; working and non-working housewives. eISSN 2398-4279 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Place attachment and determinants of living arrangement in the family house in Ibadan, Nigeria

Context/Background: There is a dearth of study in identifying the determinants of choice of living arrangement in sub-Saharan Africa and what influences individual’s decision about this. Therefore, this study examined the physical aspects and demographic characteristics that may be significant predictors of attachment to a particularly form of living arrangement in the form of “family house” otherwise called agbo’le.Data source and Methods: The analysis was based on quantitative data from 413 household heads in a traditional neighborhood characterized mainly by agbo’les in Ibadan, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, regression analysis and correlation were used to analyse the data.  Results: The results showed that demographic factors including education attained, occupation and nature of work were significant predictors of place attachment rather than the physical structure.Conclusion: The study concluded that the relevance of agbo’le to the lives of the residents and hence its future potentials are more influenced by characteristics of individual residents.

Considering user participation in light of level and stages of self-selection in architectural design process (ADP)

Presenting the new definition of self-selection in Architectural Design Process (ADP) needs to clarify the edges of this new concept versus the others, which exist in design area. Referring to conducting content analysis in previous published studies, the general meaning of self-selection is a situation in which user decide to do something for themselves rather than do something that has chosen for them. On the other hand, different users’ and designers’ vision of self-selection make a connection with End User’s Personalization (EUP) and User Centered Design (UCD). Both self-selection and user participation indicate the user decision-making power. Consequently, for earning a high level of user satisfaction, users should allow to contribute partially or totally, in certain decision-making processes, which have normally considered as the typical responsibility of architects. This paper by gathering a close group dissection and using brainstorming method, has attempted to argue the levels and stages of user participation in order to discover and establish the level and stages of self-selection in ADP

Renovation for personalization: A development arm for sustainable housing

Renovation is a common phenomenon in mass housing schemes in Malaysia. It is a personalization process aiming at establishing household's meanings of home and expected affordances. It turns the unsuitable housing unit design provided by the developers into a more liveable residential environment for the dwellers. However, the practice despite being regarded as a Malaysian culture, has not received sufficient assistance from building actors, including the government sectors. Studies in the field are also scarce. This book attempts to explain the practice from the point of view of sustainable housing development. It highlights the central contribution of user participation in the creation of environment that fit the users. The practice is argued as a housing development arm, probably equivalent if not more important than the formal mode of housing provision in creating sustainable housing. The book also suggests various aspects to be considered in developing the personalization programme for practical implementation

Means end chain, person environment congruence and mass housing design

Meeting human needs is considered as fundamental to sustainable human settlement. However, in micro level developments particularly in respect of a housing unit, for example, an operational definition of sustainability which will be useful in its practical implementation, has yet to be developed. To address this, the author posits that theories on the relationship between the environment and the person can be taken as a conceptual frame of reference. One of them is the theory of Person-Environment Congruence (PEC). This theory conceptualizes "congruence" as the favourable outcome of the person-environment relationship. Achieving PEC is considered as the most important criteria that supports the concept of housing sustainability. In the context of housing, the author considers that PEC is achieved when the dwelling place can offer its inhabitants a place which meets their basic needs. In order to operationalize this concept in terms of housing unit design, the author propagates the use of the Means-End Chain (MEC) research model to explore the relationship between a person and his or her environment. The combination of the two concepts facilitates the identification of those housing attributes emphasized in the home-making process, together with the users' perceptual orientation towards those attributes. To experiment with the application of the MEC research model in respect of exploring the concept of PEC, a case study was conducted on 15 renovated and personalized houses in a mass housing scheme in Malaysia. The traditional MEC methods were maintained with some modifications to accommodate the various housing characteristics. The results suggest that the MEC research model is able to link the relevant housing unit attributes to user values, and it is potentially applicable in the design of a housing unit. The results also indicated that user participation is essential in home making process, in order to achieve and maintain sustainability

End-users participation approach towards effective housing occupancy in Malaysia: a review

Having considered housing as vital among other human needs, various governments have geared efforts towards providing housing for their citizens but there exists the challenge of occupancy in most cases. This study aims at investigating the housing delivery system in Malaysia in relation to occupancy status and takes a systematic evaluation of some existing literature on the end-users relevancy in building projects acceptability. The study uses computer search web namely, science direct, Scopus, web of science and Proquest to access the research keywords. Thus, the literature reveals that there exists a remarkable non-occupancy in Malaysia’s housing system. This study proffers end-users’ participation in Malaysia housing delivery system as an approach that could eradicate non-occupancy