Improving the quality of school facilities through building performance assessment

Abstract

PurposeThe paper describes the purpose of and strategies for conducting post‐occupancy evaluations (POEs) as a method for assessing school building performance. Set within the larger context of global efforts to develop and apply common indicators of school building quality, the authors describe research conducted within the newest generation of São Paulo's schools.Design/methodology/approachThe various methods of POE, including expert walkthroughs, physical measurements, observations, behavioral mapping, user interviews, focus groups, and survey questionnaires were applied within a purposefully selected case study school.FindingsThe POE carried out at Fernando Gasparian High School revealed limitations in the building's design, particularly in light of the neighborhood context, thus raising significant concerns about safety and security. Users gave the construction quality of the building, a generally positive evaluation, however, there were some important aspects of the building design judged as deficient. In particular, researchers observed a significant mismatch between the building design and the realities of the surrounding community. This sort of incongruity introduced important challenges to principals, teachers, and staff, as they worked to ensure the safety of students who attend the school.Originality/valueThe research explores the effectiveness of POE methods in capturing user and expert assessments of overall building quality, as well as the degree to which building designs assist educators and community members in realizing Brazil's larger educational reform goals.

Qualitative Adequacy of Students Hostels in Wa, Ghana

“…In addition, Preiser and Schramm provided a dynamic and evolving POE process model which allows feedback into next building delivery cycle. This idea was later conceptualised by Ornstein et al [23] (see figure 1). A more recent and related definition of the concept is "a systematic evaluation of opinion about buildings in use, from the viewpoint of the people who use them" [30].…”

“…Furthermore, the importance of reading room library and internet facility to students' academic performance is well documented in literature [23]. The link between retention, or "student persistence", and library use is also comprehensively documented in literature drawing on sources dating back to the early 1960s [37,38].…”

“…The qualitative adequacy measurement in this study was in the form of a post-occupancy evaluation which mainly used the survey questionnaire approach adopted from similar studies [15,23,24,45] and adapted to this current one. A questionnaire survey of purpose-built private hostels around the Wa campus of UDS was carried out by the researchers between January and March, 2013.…”

“…Local and international attributes may therefore be engaged in assessing the qualitative adequacy of housing. Various specific attributes have thus been established in the literature [15,[23][24][25][26]. The UN [27] definition of an adequate shelter (provided in the research design) provides a rather widely applicable attributes often adapted for post-occupancy evaluations like this study (See for instance Ibem and Amole [15].…”

Melhoria contínua aplicada a edificações de tipologia padronizada: a gestão do conhecimento no contexto do portfólio de ativos de uma organização

“…Para que os resultados aferidos possam ser efetivamente incorporados, na forma de recomendações para novos projetos ou para proposição de uma eventual requalificação da edificação, é importante que a apresentação do diagnóstico seja feita de modo sistemático (ORNSTEIN et al, 2009;ORNSTEIN;ONO, 2010).…”