Assessment of Building Performance and Occupant Satisfaction in Student Housing: A Post-Occupancy Evaluation Study at KFUPM

Abstract

 
Research on post-occupancy evaluation on student housing has been quite intensive in the past 
decade. However, some countries give little or no concern to the practice of improving design outcomes 
and building performance using post-occupancy evaluations. This study focuses on the use of post
occupancy evaluation (POE) of the design and the building performance of existing students` housing 
at the campus of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. The evaluation 
methods used include on-site walkthroughs, questionnaire surveys and students' meetings. A 
comprehensive overview of the building performance provided, along with an evaluation of the 
satisfaction of the students. This study provides areas for improvement and provides guidelines and 
recommendations to serve as feedback and feed forward to university's Projects/Maintenance 
Department, to improve the design and maintenance in the design stage of future student housing 
buildings. Thus, the study has practical findings that contribute to enhancing future building design, 
utilization, and optimizing the designe process for similar projects, and improving the overall 
satisfaction of occupants of student housing facilities.