id |
ddss9446 |
authors |
Horgen, Turid |
year |
1994 |
title |
Post Occupancy Evaluation as a Strategy to Develop an Improved Work Environment |
source |
Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994 |
summary |
A post-occupancy evaluation is a formal way of finding out whether a recently occupied, remodelled, or built environment is performing, as was intended in its programming or design, and a term which has been developed in the professional field in the United States over the last 20 years. The Scandinavian approach to the same question has emphasised surfacing the values of the users of the work environment as a tool for a more comprehensive approach to space planning and design. A recent case-study of the Taubman Building at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government was aimed at blending the two strategies for evaluation, defined postoccupancy evaluation as a dialogue with the client, as a process to help the client reflect on spatial and technological improvements, or alternate strategies for organisational locations in buildings, and offers an interesting example of a possible future direction for POE's. Sheila Sheridan, Director of Facilities and Services at the Kennedy School, commissioned the case-study, and has been using it result in her daily work. Jacqueline Vischer, who has developed a survey of seven key dimensions of work-place comfort for commercial office buildings throughout eastern North America, and Turid Horgen, who has developed tools for participatory environmental evaluation and programming, widely used in Scandinavia, carried out the study and facilitated the evaluation process. The study is also done in the context of the ongoing research on these issues in the design Inquiry Group at the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT, which is involved in a larger program for developing strategies and tools for more effective programming and management of corporate space. This research defines the workplace environment as the interaction between four dimensions: space, technology, organisation and finance. Our approach is to integrate programming and evaluation with organisational planning and organisational transformation.Post occupancy evaluation is seen as a way to inform the client about his organisational culture as he manages the fit between a facility and its uses, and as one of several tools to bridge the frameworks and viewpoints and the many "languages" which are brought into the decision making process of designing the built environment. |
series |
DDSS |
references |
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last changed |
2003/08/07 16:36 |
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