The application of repertory grid techniques to the assessment of users' perceptions of design quality construction

Changes in the practice of design are pointing towards a new understanding of design, with users' needs and values high on the agenda. The main aim of research into design quality is a deeply satisfying built environment, and to create such an environment demands tools that will help designers and users in thinking about quality. The study of social and psychological responses to specific combinations of design variables in existing environments will lead to a greater understanding of the relationships between design, ongoing social and psychological dynamics, and behaviour. The Repertory Grid Method helps to identify explicit, hidden or latent user needs, adding value to the design process, facilitating an iterative design process that directly involves users. A more complete understanding of these relationships will allow for better prediction of design impact in future settings. This is useful in achieving congruence between a building design and the needs and expectations of its users, as well as in identifying environments that facilitate preferred modes of behaviour. A novel approach for the elicitation of clients/users' design quality perceptions is proposed: a design tool combining a psychological method, the Repertory Grid, with a statistical procedure, the Generalised Procrustes Analysis. It is a mechanism for developing a shared understanding of the essential needs and values around which the brief and the design can be structured. Grid method combined with Generalised Procrustes Analysis offer a reliable way to understand how people perceive and interrelate with their immediate environment providing designers with a rigorous method to help them design better adapted and user-friendly spaces.