WELL building for developing countries: critical design criteria for residential buildings in Malaysia
Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
ISSN: 1726-0531
Article publication date: 26 June 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the interrelationship between critical design criteria (CDC) that affect health, well-being and productivity (i.e. WELL) for residential buildings in developing countries, using Malaysia as a case study. To achieve the aim, the objectives are to identify CDC that affect WELL collectively; determine CDC that affect health, well-being, and productivity simultaneously; and analyze the interrelationship between the CDC.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the semi-structured interviews and a systematic review of the existing literature were gathered for survey development. Next, survey data was collected from 114 professionals living in multistory buildings. Finally, normalized mean analysis, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), agreement analysis and Spearman correlation analysis were used to analyze the collected data.
Findings
Out of the 51 potential design criteria, 16 are critically affecting WELL collectively. Furthermore, six are critically affecting WELL collectively as well as health, well-being and productivity simultaneously: property price, water flow and supply, water treatment, pest management, management services and waste management. Finally, “water treatment” is highly correlated to “water management” and “water flow and supply.” In addition, “waste management” and “management services,” as well as “fire safety” and “emergency evacuation plans,” are highly correlated.
Originality/value
This study's originality includes investigating the CDC of residential buildings for the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, in a developing country. As a result, this study uncovers holistic design criteria for policymakers to establish holistic building assessment tools for residential buildings.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (PDU213001-1). The authors thank the participants for their time and participation in the survey to make this study possible. The authors are also grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, which improved this paper’s quality.
Citation
Zamani, S.H., Rahman, R.A., Yusof, L.M. and Naganathan, H. (2024), "WELL building for developing countries: critical design criteria for residential buildings in Malaysia", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-11-2023-0493
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited