ABSTRACT
Amos Rapoport takes the view that ‘architecture is not a “free” artistic activity but a science-based profession that is concerned with problem solving. Moreover, these problems need to be discovered and identified’ and ‘research is needed not only in design but in the full sequence of essential activities, those that should precede it such as problem analysis and programming … and those which should follow design-post occupancy evaluation’. This chapter illustrates how an architectural design firm has committed to such approaches and how a research-based process was developed to assess the impact of design on use of and satisfaction with learning environments. Building upon Rapoport’s frameworks, the practice of school design committed to moving beyond anecdotal representations of a project’s performance to perform post-occupancy evaluations (POE). Recognizing the need to define the ‘problem’, research included pre- and post-occupancy evaluations (PPOE). This created the prototypical process for ongoing problem analysis, goal-setting, and evaluations. A nine-school study followed that focused on how school modernizations influence indoor environmental quality and occupants. With an expanded sample of un-modernized and modernized schools, another study (the 2019 Award of the AIA College of Fellows’ Latrobe Prize) involved a larger sample of 28 schools across two districts and developed a more complete model of the environment focused on ‘educational adequacy’, ‘indoor environmental quality’, and ‘community connectivity’.
