Assessment of perceived flexibility in house design using conjoint analysis(CA)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore people's assessment of flexibility in house design based on their perceptions. There are a number of assessment studies on flexible building design based on constructional and structural mechanisms. However, few, if any, studies are concerned with the assessment of flexibility in house design based on user perception and/or active user participation. A study was conducted in Malaysia using the conjoint analysis (CA) research model to measure users' preferences and their assessment of flexibility in house design. Sixteen flexible house design models were established using a Means- End Chain research model and were then used in the CA assessment. Data were collected from 180 respondents, who were staff of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The results of the study indicate that socio- demographic variables of respondents and their intentions to modify their actual house influenced their assessment of flexible house design. This article shows the significance of people's assessment of flexibility and participation in establishing preferred options of flexible house design.