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Architects' Endeavour and User-response: A Post Occupancy Evaluation of

Apartments in Dhaka

Conference Paper · February 2012

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Architects’ Endeavour and User-response: A Post

Occupancy Evaluation of Apartments in Dhaka

Zareen Habiba Islam

Lecturer, Department of Architecture
University of Asia Pacific
Dhaka, Bangladesh
E-mail: zareen@uap-bd.edu

Abstract
Dhaka city is undergoing an unprecedented growth in real estate apartment living in the last three decades.
Shortage in developed urban land, made this option popular amongst a section of urban population with
better affordability formed with people from wide ranging socio-cultural background. Except some individual
interests, no attempt has been seen so far to get these users feedback for improvement in apartment design.
Gap between architect and user prevails due to lack of contact between them. Hence, the need of a Post
Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is becoming necessary to give feedback to architects and academicians as well
as to provide a sound basis of the users and give them a better living. POE acts as a very good instrument
considering both the technical and socio-behavioural aspects, from the user’s standpoint. The objective of
this paper is to find out the relation between the users feedback and architect’s thought. The paper focuses
on POE of community spaces provided in these apartments, as the issue and spaces of social interaction
within the apartment communities is equally important with other issues of apartment planning, since these
communities have higher degree of hesitation for interaction, resulting in social problems and socially unfit
groups in the apartments.

Keywords: Apartments, Designed Community Spaces, Social Interaction, Post Occupancy Evaluation

1. Introduction
Dhaka city is undergoing an unprecedented growth in real estate apartment living in the last three decades.
The shortage of developed urban land, made this option a popular choice to a section of urban population with
better affordability formed with people from wide ranging socio-cultural background. These varied communities
face higher degree of social disorientation and hesitation to social interaction than the traditional one, resulting
in social problems and socially unfit groups in the apartments. Hence the issue of social interaction within these
communities along with the spaces for interaction is equally important with other issues of apartment planning.
Though high-rise apartments in Dhaka have a minimum 10% of the total floor area dedicated as community
space as per provision by the Building Construction Rule, a large number of apartments are exempted from
this rule. These are the six storey apartments with smaller number of population having better options for
initiating social interaction among the residents, especially children, elderly people and women, who stays in
these building for a longer span of time. It is assumed that inadequate or non-existent community space is one
of the reasons for the needs and demands for social interaction of these residents not being fulfilled.
Department of Architecture, BUET

Along with the regular shared spaces, many architects being aware of this problem have come up with
different design solutions in the form of courtyards, swimming pool, multipurpose halls etc. to generate social
interaction within the apartment building. But most of these spaces have remained unevaluated in terms of
whether being used the way architect presumed or not. The gap between the design idea of the architect and
users response remains.

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To evaluate the built environment performance, Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) acts as a very good
instrument as it considers not only the technical aspects but also social and behavioural issues considering the
standpoint of the occupants. POE being a popular tool among the academicians as well as the practitioners
for the last three decades focuses on building occupants and their needs and thus provide insights to the
consequences of past design decisions and the resulting building performance. This knowledge forms a
sound basis for creating better buildings in the future.

This paper discusses in the light of POE, the condition of the community spaces for social interaction designed
by architects through a comparative study of two apartments in Dhanmondi R/A in Dhaka. Dhanmondi, being
the first planned residential area of Dhaka, has faced changes in its character over the time; from the individual
small residences of homogenous groups of 60’s to the recent heterogeneous high-rise multifamily apartment
buildings. Thus the evaluation of apartments in Dhanmondi will provide an example for the overall scenario of
the planned residential area. An evaluation of the designed community spaces will provide guidance for future
design of apartments to facilitate and design spaces for conducive social interaction.

2. Objective, Scope and Methodology

Studying the social space of apartments can range from the living rooms of a unit to the street in front. This
paper focuses only on the spaces that are designed by architects for enhancing social interaction. The space
and nature of interaction taking place in those spaces were studied to understand their social life but evaluation
was done only of the designed community spaces within the apartment premises. The Objective of this paper
is to find out the relation between the architects thought and use of those spaces from users point of view.

Followed by a theoretical part based on established theories and analysis made by different authors, an
empirical part based on field survey and interviews in the local context was done. Dhanmondi R/A was
chosen as the survey area for its historical significance of being the earliest planned residential area, along
with the multi dimensional face it has taken over the time. A questionnaire survey was done by random
sampling to understand the socio-economic status of the residents. Before selection of the final samples, a
reconnaissance survey of the building types were done with certain selection criteria based on presence or
absence of designed spaces for social interaction within the apartments, further identified according to their
locations such as; apartments by the thoroughfare, cul de sac apartments, apartments by an open space.

Two apartments “Space Lake Castle” and “Kotibarsha” were then chosen which are designed by the same
architect and have similar planning concept. Questionnaire survey was done among the residents of the two

Figure 01. Methodology

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buildings to get their feedback and persistent observation was done of the spaces to understand the use of the
spaces and form and nature of social interaction taking place. Then a detail case history analysis was done
of all the members of one family from each sample for qualitative investigation. Finally, a Post Occupancy
Evaluation was done based on criteria set which has been discussed later.

3. Apartment living in Dhaka, Designed Community Space and Interaction

pattern in them- an overview
The megacity Dhaka has gone through a rapid growth in recent decades and still growing at a rapid pace.
The population of Dhaka has grown from 2,068,353 in 1974 to reach an incredible 9,912,908 in 2001 and is
predicted to be the world’s fourth largest city by the year 2015 with an estimated population of 21.1 million
[BBS, 2001]. Restriction in physical expansion due to its location within the deltaic region and lack of urban
infrastructure development has restricted its horizontal growth and the only way to accommodate the rising
population is to grow vertically. Thus apartment living in both low-rise walk-ups and high-rises have become
a popular choice for the high and higher middle income group of the city dwellers. First introduced by the
formal private developers in early 80s, Dhaka experienced a boom in apartment development in almost
all the residential areas, which later became well accepted also to the informal housing providers. Though
formally the early developments were not much different from the government colonies and multi-storied
single ownership walk-ups, the new idea of multi-ownership and shared facilities within individual unit rights
was accepted. The only significant change taking place was freeing the ground floor from unit and providing
parking and other services. Apart from regular shared spaces, the high-rise apartment complexes of Dhaka
also have a minimum 10% of the total floor area dedicated as community space as per provision of the
Building Construction (BC) Rule though the rule does not provide any further instruction to the attributes of
these spaces. Besides the high-rise apartments, a large number of six storey apartments rise in the Dhaka
city. There are no rules or regulations regarding the community spaces for these apartments which results
into high density accommodation without any variation of spaces. Inadequate or non-existent community
space and heterogeneous group contributes to social isolation resulting in social problems and socially unfit
groups in the apartments [Glaeser and Sacerdote, 2001]. Behavioral study of these apartments is important
to understand the non physical issues taking place in them.

Behaviour studies in architecture encompasses both function and behavioural factors, which go deeper, to
the psychology of the user, their perception of building form, social interaction needs, sub cultural differences
in lifestyles, and the meaning and symbolism of buildings. People living Industrial societies are far closer to,
and depend upon, the built environment than the natural environment and spend most of their time in interior
spaces. (Ittelson et al, 1974) Thus, Architects and Planners can exert enormous control over these people’s
life by structuring the ebb and flow of interactions by erecting boundaries that modify the properties of a space.
Planning rests on the belief that the social patterns and experiences can be controlled by manipulating the
physical environment. (Rosow, 1961) The architects are the artist, who sculptures social spaces though his
aesthetic role has been overemphasized. Traditionally, architects care more about the look of the buildings
than how they would walk in use. The simple reason for this is that, architects being professionals respond
to the norms of the profession than the client. The background of arts, rather the social and behavioural
science, they s focus more on to aesthetics and design most environments for the client and not for the users.
Department of Architecture, BUET

In addition, it is difficult to design for users with variety of uses and users. In recent years, many architects
have embraced the user-oriented philosophy, which has three requirements. Firstly the building has to be
functional. Secondly, it should be comfortable. Then they should satisfy the aesthetic preferences of a given
group of users. (Gans, 1978)

Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals, who modify their
actions and reactions according to the actions by their interaction partner; it occurs in a particular place
and duration of time [Giddens 2006]. Changes in urban and house forms due to culture, technology and
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power initiate changes in social interaction forms- [King 1980]. Moreover, population size, density, and social
heterogeneity of a housing area, and its designed spaces combine to influence social interactions [Ghazzeh
1999]. Social interaction is enhanced by the presence of three variables: first is the opportunity for contact;
second is proximity to others; and third is appropriate space to interact [Fischer.etal.1977]. The chance of
Interaction is thus more in the six storey apartments as they have a smaller number of users and the chance
for intimate interaction is high in them. Though there is no rule for providing community spaces in these
apartments in the building code, beside regular shared spaces, some architects have taken many attempts
to provide spaces in the form of court, open spaces, meeting halls etc. that can generate social interaction in
the apartments. Four form of social interaction is distinguished by Wikipedia- 1. Accidental- not planned and
not likely to be repeated. 2. Repeated- not planned but bound to happen from time to time. 3. Regular- Not
planned but very common 4. Regulated- Planned and regulated by customs that will definitely raise questions
when missed. All the four type of interaction is seen in the shared spaces but the designed community spaces
are thought to be generating not only the primary accidental one but also the regulated one. But no attempt is
seen to evaluate whether these spaces generate any kind of interaction at all.

Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) which has been developed by architects and social scientists with a shared
interest in human behaviour and the physical environment is a perfect tool to assess whether buildings are
fulfilling their functional purpose. POE in architecture are concerned with social and behavioural issues as
opposed to aesthetic issues (Wener, 1989). They compare actual building performance with explicitly stated
human performance needs. A POE of these apartments thus will provide a future guidance for the architects
as well as the academicians.

4. Residents of these apartments: their social spaces and its role in social
interaction
Before getting into the buildings, one thing important to know is, the people this study is based on are; the
people living in the real estate apartments, their socio economic condition, their social spaces and type of
interaction taking place and their relation with their neighbours and their neighbourhood.

4.1 Socio Economic state of the users

Majority of the residents of these apartment of Dhanmondi R/A have been living in Dhaka for about twenty-
thirty years and even two generations. People with more than thirty-forty years background seem to be
familiarized with the urban life though struggling with the busy and self-centered life of metropolis. Whereas,
the younger generation are quite accustomed to this life. These are mainly single families generally of three
to four members comprising mainly husband, wife and children. The household head of these apartments
are by and large well established businesspersons or professionals including doctors, engineers, teachers,
architects etc; with age group between late forties to late fifties. On the other hand, about seventy percent of
the female population varies between the age group of forty-fifty. Only twenty five percent of children are seen
under thirteen years. Teen agers and University going son/daughter are seen in the highest range. Most of
these occupants belong to the upper and upper middle class strata with about forty percent families where the
head is the only earning member and forty five percent families where both husband and wife are the earning
members.

4.2 Social Spaces and role of social space in social interaction

The relation of the residents and their neighbourhood is important to understand the situations of the buildings
as well as the occupant’s sense of spaces for socialization in bigger scale. Studying Social Interaction in day to
day life is important; firstly, to get a structure and form of day to day routines of individuals where the interaction

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pattern with others is almost constant. Secondly, the study of everyday life reveals how humans can act
creatively to shape reality as; individuals perceive reality differently according to their backgrounds, interests
and motivations. Thirdly, studying social interaction in everyday life sheds light on larger social system and
institutions. (Giddens, 2006)

The type, occurrence and extent of the daily activity vary with age group, occupation, distance one travel and
above all individual characteristics. The household head or the male members spend a large time at office
and the time after the office-hours with families with some exceptions attend clubs once or twice a week. To
understand the daily activity of the female members two categories are studied: the working-women and the
homemakers. The working women have a routine almost same as the male members whereas, the home
makers spend most of the time taking care of home with their free time mostly spent watching television or
talking on phone with friends and relatives. The children under thirteen and teen agers almost follow the same
routine of going to school, coaching and game time after lunch and homework and family time at night. On
a contrary, the university going or the office going spent most of their time at office or. The holiday routines
vary from family to family reflecting one’s family type and the nature of leisure one indulges in. The holiday’s
routines have extreme opposite examples with cases where members spend the whole day at home and on
the other hand, members gather for breakfast at the rabindra sharobar (open space beside the lake) followed
by lunch at one of the members house of their morning walk group. Nevertheless, in most of the cases,
members spend the morning with the family and then visit any relatives or make family outing.

Almost half of the people have chosen their building either because of its location beside lake or close
proximity of office, school etc. In most of the cases, the relation between the residents and the neighbourhood
bounds only by going to office, schools and shopping. There are again families having relations with their
neighbourhood and neighbours by sharing common interests like morning walk, children, clubs, saying
prayers, playing etc. Many have the least physical movement within their neighbourhood whereas many use
their surroundings in the best way they can. Nearest departmental stores are popular for shopping along with
the vans bringing fruits and vegetables. Very few shop from the nearest kutcha bazaars like Mohammadopur
town hall or New Market. There are even families having specific shop who supply the monthly grocery. The
fast growing shopping complexes are the most popular places for shopping whereas new market, Chadni
Chowk and Gausia still hold their popularity. The colourful and well-publicized restaurants and fast food shops
are trendy when it comes to places for outing. It is hard to find these places free in the weekends as they are
packed with families. Various virtual parks are popular among the children. Foreign trips are also popular as
vacation along with different places within the country.

4.3 Relationship between the neighbours

The relation between the neighbours here are mostly formal, mostly confined to hi-hello and are limited
within the meeting held once a month along with visits in the special occasions. Most of the inhabitants face
repeated interaction by meeting each other in the lift lobby or parking while entering or leaving the building.
The interaction is more among the young children during the time of play and school. Borrowing habit is almost
missing in the apartments due to the formal relation. Visits take place in the time of crisis or when somebody
is invited. Lack of open spaces for leisure time; force the people to spend most of the time at home, especially
Department of Architecture, BUET

in the bedrooms. Usually in most of the cases, residents are more involved with television, internet, or talking
on telephone with their relatives whom they cannot make a regular visit. The young generations spend most of
their time on cell phones and internet. Face book is another popular option that helps in keeping contact with
a bigger surrounding of people with the least movement.

The inhabitants of “Space Lake Castle” claim to have a very good relationship with very few conflicts taking
place. There are families who share food with the neighbours and keep the children on times of need. Even
the keep the keys of the houses with the neighbours during foreign trips who keep the house clean and water
the plants. Children in this building enjoy the most. They were seen playing in the open space whenever
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the building was visited. Young children play in the afternoon after school hours, and elder children in the
evening. “Kotibarsha” on the other hand is unique with both friendly relation and conflict situation among the
neighbours. On one hand, where marriages are seen taking place between two family members, conflicts with
the shared facilities are common. There are example where a professor residing in this building is too busy to
meet his cousin living in the same building, his son came to know that one of his acquaintances at the gym
also reside in the same building after meeting him in the gym. One of the residents of this building send eid
cards to all the residents no matter he knows them or not.

5. Contextual profile of the buildings: Surroundings and Regular shared

spaces
The contextual profile of the buildings includes spaces within and around the building. The first case,
“Kotibarsha” is located in the comparatively busy thoroughfare at road no 03 whereas, the “Space Lake
Castle” is located in the dead end or road 15A.

Besides the designed community spaces within the building, the regular shared spaces also play an important
role in generating social interaction. The regular shared spaces include lift lobby, parking and roof. The lift
lobby being designed specially will be discussed in later part. Parking and Roof are two important features
in these apartments because they are used by almost all the occupants of a building. Unlike any regular
apartments, besides the ground floor being used to serve the parking along with the lobby, drivers’ room, care
taker’s room, generator room and sometimes small meeting rooms, these two buildings has an open space
in the center. In “Space Lake Castle”, the parking is segregated in the two sides with walls restricting the view
to the central court. And in “Kotibarsha”, the parking is arranged at the back. The roof of “Space Lake Castle”
is used more than the roof of “Kotibarsha”. Where in “Kotibarsha” an inhabitant restricts his college going son
from going to the roof with his friends to avoid any type of complaints from the building community, in “Space
Lake Castle”, the roof is used by different groups. Children playing, women gossiping and toddler enjoying
his early walks with father are common in the roof of “Space Lake Castle” whereas, the roof of “Kotibarsha” is
mainly used by the maid servants during drying clothes.

6. Designed Community Spaces in the buildings and nature of social

interaction
The design attributes of the community spaces provided in the buildings is important to know besides the
nature and extent of use of it. And the fact that whether this space is used to the extent it is thought to be along
with the nature of social interaction provides the idea for how well the spaces are working.

6.1 Design Attributes of the Community Spaces

Architect being the same, both “Space Lake Castle” and “Kotibarsha” have the similar scheme of design in
the plot size 1.4 bigha and 1 bigha respectively. Both the buildings have an open space in the middle with
apartment units holding it. “Kotibarsha” is a later design and so accommodates improvements.

The courtyard of “Space Lake Castle” is segregated from the parking area with a walkway at one side and with
a wall on the other side. It has quite a big hall room in one side and is open to the lake on the other. The 20’X60’
(appx) linear courtyard is open to sky and is always naturally lit and well ventilated. Openings and verandahs
facing the court keep the space lively and a constant watch is possible. The court is a mixture of paved area
and green. Towards the lake side, the paved area terminates to few steps along with planter box and sitting
arrangements. The boundary wall towards the lake being transparent provides a view to the lake and sufficient
light and air as well and keeps the environment fresh and natural. The two vertical circulations provided in the
two sides of the court leads to the lobby spaces on each floor. One side of the lobby is connected to the units

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where as the other hangs between the two units as a bridge. These corridors leading to the individual units are
on the two sides of the court and being naturally lit and ventilated, encourage vegetations and plantations in
almost all the floors. The hall room in the front of the court was designed as an entry lounge. The room enters
from the drop off in the front and opens to the court through a covered space leading to the covered walkway
from one lobby to another.

Plans of Parking of a. Space Lake Castle; b. Kotibarsha; Roof of c. Space Lake Castle, d. Kotibarsha Images of Parking of e. Space lake Castle; h.
Kotibarsha; f, g. Women gossiping and toddler in the roof of Space Lake castle; i. Roof of Kotibarsha
Figure 02 Regular Shared Space of “Space Lake Castle” and “Kotibarsha”

In “Kotibarsha”, the open court is surrounded from the four sides and measures about 20’X40’. Two lift lobbies
on the two smaller sides hold the court with parking on one side and the hall room in the other. The court
is open towards the parking and the hall room has French widows, which can be opened, and the in-out
relationship is possible during a program. The court is green, has some vegetation, and is naturally lit and
ventilated. The green takes varied looks during winter and rains. The stairs and the lobbies open towards the
court along with the windows of the units, which provide a constant watch on the court. Plantation and green
Department of Architecture, BUET

is seen to be done in the lobbies. The stairs face the court and is open providing a free flow of space. The hall
room beside the court also is connected to the poolside providing a beautiful indoor and outdoor relationship.
“Kotibarsha” has a swimming pool beside the court and the hall room. The pool is located in the front side
of the building in a double height space with enough space in the sides. a space is provided in the first floor
which looks down in the pool and gives a variety of view to the pool. The privacy of the pool is provided with
low height brick wall along with planter box from the entry and the reception area. It has a visual connection
with the court and the lobbies.

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a. Courtyard; b. The courtyard with openings and the corridors; c. Opening inside the court with green; d. The corridor at the left of the courtyard; e.
The court terminating to the lake; f. Landscape at the termination; g. Landscape in the court

Figure 03: The Designed Community Spaces of “Space Lake Castle”

6.2 Nature and extent of use and nature of interaction taking place in these spaces

In spite of both the buildings having similar court as designed community space in the ground level, the nature
and extent of use of these spaces vary a lot from each other.

The central open space court of “Space Lake Castle” is the heart of the building. Children play, gatherings take
place, even women, who don’t like to go out enjoy their evening walk in that space. Above everything, people
sit in the court facing drawing rooms and enjoy their tea while watching children play. One of the resident’s
chose this building just because of the warmth and lively giggling of the children in that open space that she
found when she came to rent the apartment. The users are happy with the segregation of the parking place
and the court as the parking works well as well the privacy of the court is maintained. The corridor like open
lobby adds up to the life of the open court spreading to various levels as well. The picture in “Kotibarsha” is
not as lively as “Space Lake Castle” as the central space acts only as an airshaft. The lack of privacy from the
parking is probably the main reason that keeps the court empty moreover, the grass surface keeps the space
unused. Plantation is seen in the open lobby space, but as the space is covered from three sides, creates
privacy problem and thus is not as lively as the lobby of “Space Lake Castle”.

Though the swimming pool with adequate deck space provides a beautiful environment for people to gather,
sad story is that this pool was never used. In fact, children play cricket inside the pool. The clash between the
users regarding maintenance of the pool is one of the reasons that have kept the pool unutilized more over
the sense of privacy from the users end is also a reason.

Both the buildings having large halls as community rooms have almost similar use. The meeting room of
“Space Lake Castle” earlier was used as the entry lounge, and inhabitants used to sit there and read the
newspaper and interact with each other. After it was converted into the prayer space, the interaction is limited
between those who say prayer there. In “Kotibarsha”, the room though has enough space for holding parties,
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or at least indoor games for the youngs, remains almost empty and is stacked with chairs and other things.
The security guards use this room for their daily purpose and also sleep in this room.

a. Court ; b. Open Space beside the Swimmming Pool; c. Green court; d. Opening facing the courts; e. Swimming pool overllooking the open space
and court; f. Planter box for privacy

Figure 04: The Designed Community Spaces of “Kotibarsha”

7.0 Post Occupancy Evaluation of the Designed Spaces in the building

7.1 The Evaluation criteria of the spaces

The designed spaces have been identified as elements and these spaces/elements were evaluated based on
three criterions, which manifest through Indicators specific to each element. These criterions are Design and
technical performance, Assumption of use and Assumption of interaction.

Design and technical performance include the technical quality of the space that is to be evaluated to know
whether they are technically satisfactory enough to serve the other needs. Assumption of use guides the
design of every space. The relation between the assumption and the real state of use is important to guide the
future design. The assumption of interaction focuses on the level of interaction taking place in the space. Each
element is then evaluated in the scale of satisfactory, moderately satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
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a. Boys playing and b. Woman walking in the open place in “Space Lake Castle”; c. The Hallroom converted into Prayer Space
Boys Playing in the d. Pool of “Kotibarsha”; e. Green in the Lobby spaces; f. The hallroom is used by the security guards

Figure 05. Extent of use in “Space Lake Castle” and “Kotibarsha”

Figure 06. The steps of Evaluation

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Indicators of each element/space

Evaluation
Court Swimming Pool Lobby Space Hall Room
Criteria
Size and Shape
Size and Shape
Light and Ventilation
Design and Light and Ventilation
Boundary Condition
Technical Boundary Condition Location
View Size and Shape
Performance View View/ Surrounding
Ground Condition and
Privacy
Vegetation
Safety
Link with other functions
Alterations by inhabitants Remains Locked/Open
Extent of use for needful Use by Inhabitants Use for Meetings/ other
Assumptions Use as Foyer
Extent of use for special Children Learn Swimming functions
of Use Use for Plantation
need Young Girls Swim Alterations by
Variety of use inhabitants

Children Playing
Small chit chats Children Gather
Assumptions Small chit chats Interaction for necessity
Active Interaction Active Interaction
of Interaction Active Interaction Interaction for others
Programs Held Extent and Variety of use
Morning and Evening walk

Figure 06. Evaluation Criteria of the Designed Spaces

7.2 Evaluation of the Spaces through a comparative analysis

The variation of use within the similar scheme of design has been seen from the earlier discussion. Based on
the nature and extent of use and interaction taking part, the evaluation gives quite a varying picture.

The courts of both the buildings are satisfactory in almost all the indicators of design and technical criteria.
Both are well designed with proper size, shape, boundary condition, ground condition, properly lit and well
ventilated. One has the natural lake as a view and the other has its pool and both are linked with hall room and
entry lobby. On a contrary, when it comes to the criteria of assumption of use and assumption of interaction,
a totally opposite picture is seen. Where “““Space Lake Castle””” is satisfactory for being used by inhabitants
from almost all age group individually or when programs are held, the court of ““Kotibarsha”” stands just as a
visual element. The court in “““Space Lake Castle””” is successful in generating not only primary but intensive
interaction among its inhabitants. On the other hand, neither children are seen interacting in the court of
““Kotibarsha”” nor young boys/girls are seen gathering. So, the court of “““Space Lake Castle””” is satisfactory
in all the three criteria where as the of ““Kotibarsha”” though satisfactory in the design and technical criteria,
proves to be unsatisfactory in the other two.

The unique element present in ““Kotibarsha”” is the swimming pool which though is satisfactory in the design
criteria due to its well design features, stands as completely unsatisfactory when it comes to the other two as
it was never even used as a pool.

Having adequate light, ventilation, size, boundary condition and view of the court makes the lift lobbies of
both the apartments satisfactory in the design and technical criteria. Furniture set and plantation generates
Department of Architecture, BUET

gathering of people which enhances not only the use but also both primary and intimate interaction in the
lobbies. This makes them satisfactory in both use and interaction criteria as well.

The hall rooms of both the buildings are satisfactory in the design criteria as they are quite big rooms, properly
located with view and basic amenities. When it comes to the criteria of use, the room in “““Space Lake
Castle””” is satisfactory because of its use as lounge earlier and even now as a prayer space. On the other
hand, the room of ““Kotibarsha”” is unsatisfactory as it remains locked all the time and is basically used by
the security guards. The room in “Space Lake Castle” loses its satisfactory level in the interaction criteria,
to a moderately satisfactory one for confining its user group to a small number of people from the larger one
578
 ResolvingEndeavour
Architects’ Geometries
andin Complex Curtain
User-response: A PostWalls: Shanghai
Occupancy Natural
Evaluation History Museum
of Apartments in DhakaCell Wall as a Case Study

it could have supported. Whereas, the room of ““Kotibarsha”” fails totally to generate any kind of interaction
within. This summerises that, the hall room of “““Space Lake Castle””” is satisfactory in design and use criteria
with moderately satisfactory in the interaction one. On the other hand, though satisfactory in design criteria,
the hall room of ““Kotibarsha”” stands unsatisfactory in the other two criteria.

8.0 Conclusion
In most of the cases when architects design, two things that are important besides the design attributes are
its users and the interaction pattern, taking place among them. Though there are other issues affecting in
interaction, architects take “space” as an element to minimize the gap between the users. From the discussions
of this paper, two things have come up, one is the pattern of the user, and the other is the difference between
the architect’s thought and users’ response. This study clearly indicates that lack of evaluation does not only
keep the architect aloof from a feedback but also gives misleading information about the practices of the user.
The user group is very important factor for any design. In most of the studio works and in practice, the user
group is assumed from a neutral point of view. Though some surveys and interviews are done, the first hand
experience focusing on the use of space is missing. POE can provide us with proper information about the
space being used as well as the user group. This paper is a small attempt to find out how POE can work.
But there are thousands of apartments standing tall without any evaluation done. Newer buildings are on the
process of hitting the market. If these buildings are evaluated, the result can act as a strong database for the
future designers as well as the academicians. Institutionalization of Post Occupancy Evaluation is important
as this can not only provide the designer with feedback but also help the designer to be more sensitive in
designing from the users’ point of view.

Acknowledgements
Firstly, my gratitude is to my M.Arch supervisor, Prof. Dr. Shayer Ghafur for whom this paper is possible. My
heartfelt thanks to my colleagues of UAP for their support. Thanks to the concerned person of the surveyed
buildings for their unconditional help and finally my family for being beside me always.

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