Abstract & Overview
School buildings are multifunctional structures that accommodate several functions and activities. Such activities require different environmental and functional characteristics for their hosting spaces. This comprehensive research aims to establish a multi-dimensional post-occupancy evaluation (POE) framework to assess primary school buildings’ functional and environmental performance. This framework provides a fast and easy tool to evaluate and improve school building performance. To achieve its objective, the study explores different POE models, design components, and functional criteria affecting school building performance. Moreover, it discusses the impact of design parameters such as location, spatial layout, classroom conditions, auxiliary spaces, finishing materials, and environmental elements on building performance. Three main factors were considered: first, child development and well-being, which means meeting the psychological, social, and safety needs of students; second is functional suitability, which means making sure that each part of the building is designed to fulfill its function and works well with other spaces; and thirdly, environmental suitability, which means creating a comfortable space that encourages learning. The research concludes with an evaluation framework with relative and absolute values for school building design parameters in several performance areas. The proposed model enables digital assessment and presents evaluation results both numerically and graphically.