User participation in passive solar housing design

A field study was conducted in 1984 in order to compare the characteristics, lifestyle, attitudes, and behavioral adaptations of two groups of passive solar homeowners, those with high or low levels of participation in the design and/or building process. Forty-one Virginia passive solar homeowners were surveyed and interviewed in their home. Photographic slides and floor plans with furniture layout were also analyzed.

The results indicate that the owner-built homeowners or those with high participation in design and/or building were older, more educated, and were more involved in community affairs than the low participation homeowners. They also were more involved in maintenance tasks, more likely to engage in a voluntary simplicity lifestyle, and more energy conserving. The owner-builders too had a higher level of satisfaction with their home.

The majority of the homeowners expressed dissatisfaction with the flexibility of arranging furniture in the open plan. An analysis of the floor plans revealed that three factors were contributing to the problem: zones, circulation/furniture arrangement, and passive elements. Zones or distances between different activity zones were examined. In the spec-built housing particularly, the distance between entry and living room was restricted an may have caused homeowner dissatisfaction. The configuration of the circulation through the living room was also dysfunctional. In many cases, circulation to other rooms was through conversational groupings causing segmented seating arrangements. This problem was also confounded in the passive solar subdivision by site. orientation. Some homeowners modified the builder's plans by moving the front door to the street location further complicating circulation. Finally, passive elements such as woodburning stoves and thermal mass contributed to space planning problems in some of the homes studied.