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Abstract
Improved spatial quality contributes to the attractiveness and public image of a building, as well as to users' well-being. This article identifies spatial quality determinants that are affected by renovation in residential buildings. We performed a detailed assessment of changes in spatial quality due to mechanical installations in renovation. The article presents two main findings. First we identified common spatial quality determinants in the research literature: view, privacy, lighting, spatiality, spatial arrangements, the transition between public and private spaces, and perceived, built, and human densities. Second we found that the available assessment for the renovation of dwellings covers only partially the impact of mechanical installations on spatiality. We suggest, based on these findings, a general spatial quality checklist to support architects, developers, and building owners. We probed deeper into the impact of mechanical installations on the spatiality of dwellings to propose a spatial quality assessment to be considered before and after renovation. The proposed assessment represents a further step toward the inclusion of spatial quality in building renovation processes, which benefits stakeholders from design professionals to end users.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the partners of the ZenN Project and their colleagues Barbara Matusiak, Eli Støa and Luca Finocchiaro for their cooperation.
Notes
1. The Gestalt laws of grouping (proximity, similarity, closure, symmetry, continuity, common fate, good Gestalt, and past experience) consist of a tool to analyse the perception of visual form [Citation35].
2. DF = Ei/Eo × 100% [Citation45].
3. DF = SC+ERC+IRC [Citation46].
4. Luminance represents the relation between illuminance and reflectance of surfaces [Citation45].