The application of usability concepts in the built environment

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is report to on the exploratory research into the application of usability concepts to the built environment conducted by a task group of the International Council for Building Research and Documentation (CIB TG51).Design/methodology/approachThe objectives of the research were achieved through a series of case studies and associated workshops designed to identify and evaluate the ways in which stakeholders in projects were involved in decision making about building use and the methods and tools they used.FindingsThe research enabled a number of broad conclusions about the nature of usability as a concept and its application to the built environment and challenged the basis of conventional approaches to briefing and post‐occupancy evaluation.Research limitations/implicationsThe exploratory nature of the work clarified the research questions that need to be addressed in future work and raised a number of key conceptual, theoretical and methodological questions which will be explored in a further round of case studies.Practical implicationsThe industrial partners, who were directly involved in the project, shared knowledge of user experience in the workplace and benefited from an independent review of the cases as a vehicle for discussing best practice. This enabled participants to receive feedback from leading‐edge organisations and provided new knowledge for action.Originality/valueThe paper sets out a novel approach to understanding user experience in the built environment and introduces examples from organisations that responding to the challenge of designing and managing buildings from a user perspective.