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User Input in Housing Design: The Interdisciplinary Challenge
Author(s) -
Gabb Betsy S.,
Lodl Kathleen Ann,
Combs E. Raedene
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x9102000103
Subject(s) - modular design , user needs , housing industry , architectural engineering , engineering management , engineering , computer science , multimedia , telecommunications , operating system
A consortium composed of home economists, architects, engineers, and horti culturists at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln undertook a project to develop housing designs that would respond to the current and future needs and desires of people living in Nebraska. The consortium hoped to reduce the considerable gap between the thinking of designers and that of the people for whom they design (users) by linking designers with professionals in social sciences. This article contains a discussion of the user evaluation of the designs and the impli cations of these and other findings. From the housing designs created in response to user input, two were selected for user evaluation. A third design (that of a manufactured modular home cur rently on the market in Nebraska) was also included. The results show that the two designs created in response to user input were not, in general, acceptable to these users and that the modular home currently on the market was more ac ceptable. The findings raise some important questions and challenges for hous ing and design professionals.