A Study of Improvement Plan and Post Occupancy Evaluation of Block Housing in Korea - Focused on Block Housing in Eun-Pyeong First District and Nok-Yang District -

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, block housing has been a topic of increasing interest, and planners have issued many block houses through design contests. The main purpose of the block housing was to promote the formation of community among residents, and supplemental plan has also been completed in order to support the previously envisioned level of residency which is weak due to the inherent characteristics of block style housing. Currently, there are several housing complexes which have been recently built in Korea. However, questions have been aroused whether the residents are as satisfied as the planners had originally intended. In the midst of planning a new block housing complex, this research was motivated with the hope of making a measure of improvement based on the result of the post-occupancy survey. Block housing complex shows various problems such as noise, privacy, access to sunlight, and security. These problems are closely related to habitability, so resolving such problems will transform the block housing into a more comfortable and meaningful housing type and also contribute to the future promotion of the block housing complex. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to develop planning elements for the improvement of habitability as part of developing an attactive block-style housing complex, discern the level of satisfaction with habitability, problematic spatial issues and amenities based on the post-occupancy evaluation of the cases of actual residence, extract measures of improvement and implement the results at the times of future planning. In accomplishing such goal, this research performed and analyzed the post-occupancy evaluation on two block housing complexes built in Korea. Eunpyung 1st District and Nokyang District were chosen for the research, which were built 5 years ago. The data and documents obtained from the on-site visits of the two districts were classified according to the 3 physical spaces: 'external space to the complex,' 'unit living space' and 'common living space.' Survey questionnaires have been developed in terms of the level of satisfaction, problems and issues related to the amenities of the 3 spaces. The survey was performed in the form of in-person interview by visiting individual residents in the districts. Total of 200 residents were interviewed, and the SPSS statistical package was used for the analysis. Contrary to the one's expectation, the overall satisfaction level was shown as satisfactory on major evaluation points of the post-occupancy survey. Preferred amenities were landscaping in the complex, walk trails and unmaned parcel storage. Noise from the children's playground, privacy from the neighbors, insecurity issued from the inept visitor control, main buildings with poor sunlight access, low level of reputation due to complexity of the apartment structure are some of the space-related problems revealed by the survey. Detailed drawings and verified data were proposed as the means of improvement on the issues and problems. Based on the research and evaluation results of the post-occupancy surveys, it was concluded that the research on block housing complex should be continuously pursued and results from the early design stage should be arranged as planned-out elements that later ought to be implemented, thereby a residential complex with higher quality can be planned out.