Survey discovers few architecture firms seem to care what users think of their buildings

2020-07-22T11:41:00-04:00

The 2020 AJ100 survey found that post-occupancy evaluation is ‘always’ done by just 4 percent of AJ100 practices and ‘frequently’ done by 22 percent, while a quarter of firms never do so and around half (48 percent) only seek to evaluate the performance of their projects ‘occasionally’.

Philip Watson, director at HLM Architects, reflected on the survey, writing, "Too often it seems, architects want to design a building, take pictures prior to its occupation – without the messy inconvenience of having people and their clutter in them – and move on to the next project." Post occupancy evaluations allow architects to understand the implications of their design to the user. This, Watson argues, would be a powerful way to utilize an evidence-based approach to understand the value of design, which in turn could aid architects in communicating that value to clients.

To address the issue, RIBA and the University of Reading have recently launched the Social Value Toolkit for Architecture to help the profession understand the social impacts of design.

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Survey discovers few architecture firms seem to care what users think of their buildings