Identification of maintenance related issues as noise strategy in building design

Abstract

Design of a building focuses on meeting basic needs and cost. It lacks in performance evaluation of the building which is normally translated as the ease of building operation and maintenance. Robust Engineering (RE) method has the ability for building design to focus on clients' expectation. It improves building performance as it significantly influences product performance in use. High engineered quality is achieved by evaluating the interaction between user environment or noise with control factors. The aim of this research is to identify user environment which is also known as noise during building use and important consideration for better building performance. The research design in this study included an expert panel interview and a questionnaire based survey. Respondents of the expert panel interview are professionals who have experience in building design and maintenance. The questionnaire survey was conducted to identify current design focus, main problems during building operation and key factors to improve maintenance related needs of a building. Findings suggest that improving maintenance related needs in building design seeks collaborative design effort in sharing and translating design information, efficient use of information and effective analysis method, focus on product performance on user environment, sustainable use of resources as an integrated system with low waste generation and development of designer competency. Noise in building design consists of space planning, material selection, equipment selection and integration, and control factor(s) to suit the authorities' approval and supply chain support consideration.