ABSTRACT
A new paradigm for design has evolved based on the field of cybernetics, advocating feedback on the quality of building design and applying the lessons learned in future, similar projects. The system as envisioned by the editors is dynamic, evolving, self-regulating, and resilient and allows a project to adjust its course as it moves toward a pre-programmed target, such as high quality design. Along these lines of thought, the famed cyberneticist Heinz von Foerster showed that there are no absolutes in the world of environmental design, only conventions and standards for the performance of buildings, standards shared by regions, cultures, as well as code and standard-making organizations. To assess the design of design schools, this chapter focuses the phases and steps in post-occupancy evaluation (POE) as described in Improving Building Performance. The posting drew in an already completed set of POEs by Henry Sanoff who obtained student evaluations of six schools of architecture.
