Assessing the post-occupancy performance of educational design/build: the thinking while doing initiative
ISSN: 2631-6862
Article publication date: 17 March 2021
Issue publication date: 28 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Educational design/build (e-d/b) curricula in university-level professional schools of architecture have flourished in recent years, internationally, as new programs are launched and the volume of built work increases dramatically. This growing body of built work, however, has typically not been subjected to rigorous behavioral assessment from the standpoint of what is actually built, as experienced through the eyes of user-recipients in the everyday milieu. The lack of rigor in this aspect of assessing the efficacy of what gets built continues to hinder evidence-based academic scholarship on this subject.
Design/methodology/approach
An interdisciplinary research initiative titled Thinking While Doing, spanning the years 2013–2019, centered on exploring the inner profundities of e-d/b. As part of a multifaceted project involving seven universities in Canada and the United States, behaviorally focused post-occupancy assessments were conducted of three open-air pavilion structures from the viewpoint of 161 respondents' impressions, degree of satisfaction and everyday uses.
Findings
Functionality, community context, materiality and aesthetic factors were among the set of variables analyzed. Among the results, the three open air pavilions were viewed as tectonically sound and aesthetically iconic and were considered to be valued additions to their immediate physical contexts and local community.
Research limitations/implications
Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Practical implications
Student learning objectives in relation to the design intent of the built structures are highlighted.
Social implications
This evidence-based design research empowers stakeholders seeking campus-community partnership opportunities.
Originality/value
This is the first comparative, behaviorally focused appraisal of its type from the perspective of everyday user-recipients in the realm of e-d/b.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the interdisciplinary Thinking While Doing project team during the 2013–2019 period, and especially Ted Cavanaugh, Ph.D., Professor of Architecture at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, together with the research team at Dalhousie, including Alex Morier. Cavanaugh served as the lead principal investigator. Thanks to the human subject review panels at all seven participating universities in the USA and Canada, and to student research assistants at participating host-site universities where the questionnaire survey and debriefing interviews were conducted. As for University of Toronto research assistants, thanks to Ramsey Leung, Timothy Boll, Lucas Siemucha and Jonas Juodis.Funding: Research funding support was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Ottawa.
Citation
Verderber, S. (2021), "Assessing the post-occupancy performance of educational design/build: the thinking while doing initiative", Archnet-IJAR, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 703-718. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-09-2020-0176
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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