Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1995

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Architecture

Major Professor

Millend K. Gupta

Committee Members

Alton J. De Long, Mark McGrath

Abstract

Research indicates that although commonly preferred environmental attributes exist, designers and laypersons do not share a preference for the same ones. In addition, research in the built environment has overlooked restaurant environments despite their increasing success and importance. If designers are to create spaces that the end-users will satisfactorily use and enjoy, they must be aware of not only their needs and wants but also of their preferences. This study investigated the ability of ten environmental attributes (sensory stimulation, coherence, comfort, complexity, formality, mystery, nature, novelty, privacy and spaciousness) to predict preference in upscale restaurants as exhibited by three groups of subjects: the restaurant patrons, the restaurant professionals and the interior designers represented respectively by students from the departments of Child and Family Studies, Hotel and Restaurant Administration, and the Interior Design. The study consisted of two Phases. During Phase 1, subjects were asked first to rate twenty upscale restaurant environments represented via black-and-white slides on a 7-point preference scale, and second to make relative rankings of the ten environmental attributes presented in pairs. During Phase II, which took place 19 days after the completion of Phase 1, ratings for the presence of the ten attributes for each of the twenty environments were obtained from the original subjects. Multiple regressions analyses indicated that attribute importance and attribute presence predict preference for the environment. The three groups ranked the attributes in a highly similar order of importance and subjects preferred the environments in a similar way. Designers disagreed with patrons and restaurant professionals on the perceived level of attributes present in the environments on several occasions. Comfort was unanimously the most important attribute in upscale restaurants. Findings supported the validity of conceptual frameworks established for landscape environments in predicting preference for environments with opportunities for prospect and refuge.

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