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CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
from Active Design Strategies in Malaysian Commercial & Institutional Buildings: A Review. (Part 1)
by Alyaa Adnan
3.1 Introduction
This chapter explained about the methodology and focusing on the qualitative method in finding data to support the reviewed literatures conducted for the study. It is divided into two-part main parts. The first part described about the selected building’s location and its relevance for the conducted study. The second part described about the method data was collected and is divided into two sections: - active design strategies observations, and physical activity tracking.
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The methods applied are about reviewing the implementation of active design strategies on the selected case studies architecture with different building programs and tabulating the effect on the building occupant’s physical activeness
3.2 Case Study
Two (2) in totals of buildings have been analysed as case studies for this research chapter. Each of the building chosen has different building purposes with different typologies, program schedules and environment.
The studied buildings are: i. Fakulti Seni Bina & Perancangan Ukur (FSPU), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Puncak Alam campus, Selangor. ii. IKEA Damansara, Mutiara Damansara, 47800, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
To properly carry out this study, the two buildings were deliberately chosen to get an analytical result for verifying the provision of existing active design strategies and its architectural elements of physical active design features (layout design, staircases, amenities, wayfinding, furniture, etc.) in which could impact the occupants’ physical activities.
The justification of choosing the two building because each building represents the institutional and commercial buildings respectively. Both typologies were chosen as both have a relatively high daily rate of occupancy and footfall, due to its publicly accessible and flexible building programs, therefore both typology of building is highly appropriate to measure physical activeness a building could provide for its occupants at a population level. In contrast, each building provides different type of physical activities as elaborated in the literature reviews. Analytical findings and reviews will be further elaborate in Chapter 4.
During the case study, the buildings were examined with several criteria that are tabulated for easier cross check. Photographs and on-site information are also gathered during the study. To gather an individual physical activity data, a selected respondent was given a fitness monitoring device to track the respondent’s daily activities, this test was conducted on one out of three case studies. The fitness tracker will provide a tabulated data on steps count, calories burned and general physical health graph of the respondent.
3.3 Data Collection
Data collection was through observational chart that described the existence of active design elements and the layout planning in the buildings including its site context. With considerations, a physical activity data was tabulated to define the effects of the active design elements on the selected respondents’ physical activity through step count and calorific output.
3.3.1 Observations
Preliminary information is gathered to from each building to determine the prevalence of physical activities happening within the chosen building environment. In this study, observation is used as one of the instruments in gathering information and data in determining the existing active design elements that brings the effect of physical activeness to its occupants. Addition to that, the observation focused on several considerations of the elements of active design strategies and features of the chosen case study.
3.3.2 Tracking & tabulating
The active design elements and strategies observed were supported through physical activity tracking and data tabulation.
Two respondents were selected to assist with the data collecting, each of the respondent were given a fitness tracking device and were required to wear the wearables during the test. To ensure consistent reading, both respondents were chosen from the same age group and were put under a consistent 1200-calorie diet. The respondents’ age, initial weight, etc. were taken into consideration. By using a fitness app by Fitbit, Inc. each the respondent’s recommended daily steps were able to be calculated and were set as the point of refence for this study.
The selected respondents’ data for this study are as follows:
Each respondent was given the opportunity to move about and the freedom to choose their own path and architectural design features to reach the same particular destination or space program set within the selected case study. The test results were tabulated in a table manner as follows:
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Distance taken to reach destination (km) Step count (steps)
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