Pre occupancy evaluation for residential architectural unit design

Abstract

The design process for residential units is a demanding process; where it should be compatible with the functional, behavioral and psychological needs of the residents. The important of this study lay on providing an advanced method to find out resident’s impressions for residential unit design; this could be applied through adopting a simulation software which provides a prospective for residents to experience living in these units hypothetically, this study aims to apply the principles of the pre-occupancy evaluation on residential unit design. Descriptive and analytical methods was adopted in this paper, findings would support residential apartment design process where this study will serve as a basis cornerstone for future studies of architectural design and it will have predicted the proportion of resident’s satisfaction before starting the construction process this will help in reducing cost \ time to obtain the best architectural design for residential units. The sample of the study consisted of 25 people. The criteria for the personal interviews were analyzed using the SPSS program. POE has proven effective in predicting the success of the design of residential units in terms of deciding whether the space for internal facilities is sufficient or not and also their satisfaction with the interior decorations. As for POE ability to measure privacy, it shows the ability to assess internal privacy, and it failed in its ability to measure external privacy.