A Framework to Identify Stakeholder Values for Building Layout Design

Abstract

Well-designed facilities result in significant social, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits to their stakeholders. In Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) literature, these benefits are generally referred to as “value in design.” At the same time, it is well known that while value refers to the result of a judgment, values form the basis of it. Further, the existing studies address value in design from the “values shape design” perspective. However, it is also acknowledged that design attributes of built facilities influence the values of its users. The current work is built on the recognition that capturing the relationship between stakeholders' values and design attributes, is essential from the “values shape design” as well as the “design shapes values” perspective. This work explored whether a structured approach could be used to identify the relationship between design attributes and stakeholder values. In this paper, a modified means ends chain framework, called the Stakeholder Values Mapping Framework (SVMF), that utilizes Schwartz’s human values, was formulated. The SVMF was illustrated using the case of a department layout design. The values-design attributes relationship for three categories of stakeholders were mapped using the framework. The outcomes of the SVMF implementation were in the form of hierarchical value maps (HVMs). The analysis of the HVMs revealed how building design components such as the “courtyard” and abstract attributes such as the “configuration of spaces” aided in addressing a variety of stakeholder values. Further, the SVMF was able to map the relationship between the spatial aspects of a design and the stakeholder values. The analysis of HVMs further showed evidence regarding the influence of design on the values of the users of a facility.