Development of an Integrated Quality Function Deployment and Utility Theory Weighting System to Improve Occupants' Satisfaction

Abstract

Studies have shown that occupant satisfaction is a compelling factor affecting building energy consumption. Occupants' behavior has a direct relationship to their satisfaction, and it is clear that occupants' satisfaction is highly impacted by the indoor environmental quality. To identify the best design, parameters influencing occupants' perception as well as other competing objectives should be contemplated. In recent years, various multiobjective optimization algorithms have been developed to determine the best design strategies. However, occupants' satisfaction and the effect of different strategies on it comprise the missing component of these studies. Therefore, this study aims to identify the parameters influencing occupant satisfaction and develop a weighting system that can reflect these requirements in addition to the constructors' perception. To attain this objective, a survey study was conducted to identify the parameters affecting end users' satisfaction. To evaluate the construction experts' perspective regarding the identified parameters, an experts' utility function was calculated for the determined parameters. Furthermore, using the single-attribute utility and multiattribute utility, a weighting system was developed and assigned to each satisfactory requirement.