Guiding campus building design and renovation through design quality indicators and Post-Occupancy evaluations

Abstract

The quality of university campus buildings (UCBs) is critical for supporting effective educational activities. Over time, however, many UCBs necessitate significant renovation and reconstruction due to structural deterioration and evolving functional requirements. A key challenge, particularly during the initial design phase, is ensuring that buildings adequately address user needs. Insufficient consideration of these requirements can result in suboptimal designs and subsequent user dissatisfaction. This study investigated the relationship between design quality and post-occupancy satisfaction in UCBs. Design quality was assessed using the Design Quality Indicator (DQI), an instrument for evaluating building design. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was employed to measure user experience. Data were collected from 53 UCBs in Taiwan. Random forest regression and support vector machine regression were incorporated alongside linear regression for comparative analysis to examine the correlation between POE and DQI. Furthermore, the importance-satisfaction (I-S) model was applied to analyze improvement priorities across different building types. The findings revealed a strong positive correlation between DQI scores and POE results, indicating that higher design quality leads to greater user satisfaction. Specifically, the I-S model identified key areas for improvement, primarily including indoor space arrangement and indoor quality in teaching and administration buildings; privacy, space efficiency and indoor quality in dormitories and libraries; and energy efficiency, aesthetics, and indoor quality in gymnasiums. This study underscores the importance of integrating DQI into the early stages of building planning and design to enhance post-occupancy satisfaction and optimize the functionality of UCBs.