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The purpose of this research was to investigate the housing satisfaction of rural, self-help homeowners with respect to the interior of their houses. This research surveyed households' satisfaction with respect to housing quality and residential space plan design. Aspects of housing quality included: durability and maintenance of interior building materials; appliances (range, heating and cooling units); plumbing and electrical; and furnishings (cabinet, flooring, countertops). Aspects of residential space plan design included: storage areas, size of areas, and location of rooms and features. The sample for this research included 303 homeowners who built their homes through the Community Housing Improvement Program's (CHIP) Rural Self-Help Program between years the 1991 and 1997. These households came from the California counties of Butte, Glenn, and Shasta. Elements from the mail and drop off survey methods were used; 121 respondents returned the survey. This yielded a 40% return rate. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages and means), chi-square, one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test, and regression analyses. The mean age of respondents was 38 years and 78% were Hispanic. Of those who completed the survey, 57% of the respondents were female and 42% were male. The findings revealed that the respondents were moderately satisfied with the interior of their houses with respect to storage areas, size of rooms, location and features, and housing quality. There was overall satisfaction with the interiors of their houses. Analysis of all of the characteristics researched showed that respondents' overall opinion of housing quality, size of area, and storage area aspects were more important indicators of overall housing satisfaction than their overall opinion of location of rooms and features. Further analysis revealed that the location of the subdivisions, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and demographic characteristics of the respondents were not a significant determinate of overall housing satisfaction. With respect to skills learned during the self-help training process and the respondents' completion of their own alterations and modifications, both skills learned and the performance of alterations and modifications were correlated with overall housing satisfaction. For respondents who completed simple and/or inexpensive improvements, the ability to complete the improvements was influenced in whole or in part by the training they received in the self-help training process. Furthermore, the respondents who completed alterations or modifications were no more likely to be satisfied with the interiors of their houses than those respondents who performed no alterations or modifications. Based upon the findings from this research, recommendations for both design of CHIP's future Rural Self-Help Housing developments and recommendations for policy development were formulated. / Ph. D.

Since the 1950s, interior decoration evolved into interior design. Throughout the 1970s, all of the components for professionalization were in place, but it was not until the 1990s that the final transformation made interior design into a profession. This dissertation documents these changes and posits that is the conflicts inherent in the process of licensure transformed it into a profession. The transformation of interior design is examined through the lens of the theory of professions, especially Andrew Abbott's delineation of transformation through conflict. The historical case studies of the legislative process were of the District of Columbia, which has practice legislation; the Commonwealth of Virginia; which has title legislation; and the State of Ohio, which has no licensing of interior designers as of 2007. Data collection was by interviews with participants of the process of licensure and with the leadership of the interior design community. In addition, primary and secondary documents examined include books, journals, trade magazines, and documents from professional organizations. Specifically, this dissertation addresses these questions: Is interior design a profession? If so, what forces transformed interior design into a profession? And, how is interior design different from architecture? This dissertation posits that interior design is unique from architecture because it developed in home economic programs at state universities during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In this locale, the primary focus of interior design was the micro-environment based on the theory of behavior. This gives students and practitioners a unique viewpoint that allows for the consideration for each end user as integral to the design process. These attributes contribute to the unique qualities of the services interior design offers and separate it from those of architecture. A simplified definition of interior design that I developed is that interior design utilizes the theory of behavior to design spaces in a micro-environment that function at a safe and efficient level for every end user and are aesthetically pleasing. Finally, interior designers need to understand that the strength of their position in the built environment is in the unique services they offers and celebrate their qualities as outlined in this document. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to explain the safety and usability problems in the residential interior environment of Thai older adults. A sample of 163 retired government employees who live in Bangkok, Thailand were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire which included questions about housing characteristics, interior environment features, personal information, health condition, and activity level. The mean age of the older adults was 68.1 and ranged from 60 to 93 years. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and means as descriptive statistics and one-way analyses of variance. The findings revealed that most of the Thai older adults had lived in their own two story detached houses more than ten years and with their family members. The majority of the respondents had vision problems, but almost all could easily perform activities of daily living by themselves and half of them could easily perform instrumental activities of daily living by themselves. Problematic interior environmental features in each area of the home were identified and prioritized. When respondents were divided by age group, significant differences appeared in the degree of difficulty with two safety and usability features in the home. Divided by daily activity levels, respondents revealed significant differences in the degree of difficulty associated with eight safety and usability features. When the homes were broken down to five categories: entrance and stairs, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and other interior features of the house, it was these other interior features that seemed to have the most problems in safety and usability. The kitchen had the most problems in safety and usability when compared to other rooms. Based on these findings, design recommendations for Thai housing were developed. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of interior designers, architects, and child development professionals to statements regarding preschool spaces and, from those responses, determine spatial characteristics to be included in a guideline to aid in the design of childcare facilities. The sample for this study consisted of design and child development professionals working in their respective fields in Virginia, North Carolina, and the Washington Metropolitan area. Responses were gathered using a mail survey which included a variety of questions about preschool spaces. Analyses of the forty-eight Likert scale questions from the questionnaire using a one-way ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in the responses of the groups in twenty-five instances. These differences concerned private spaces for children, adequacy of information available about children's needs, food preparation facilities, and spaces for support activities. In many other instances, only the level of disagreement with particular statements was significantly different. Frequency analyses of four questions concerning identification of the five most important spatial characteristics from given lists again indicated general agreement among design and child development professionals. The characteristics identified as most important for inclusion in preschool spaces were: safety, flexibility, creative opportunities, density, varied play opportunities, anthropometrics, visual access to outdoors, acoustics, varied lighting, security, temperature controls in each room, signage, furniture safety, comfort, durability, maintenance, varied surface levels, design supporting children's competency, varied play spaces, spaces offering physical and mental challenges, and child-sized toilets. cCharacteristics viewed differently by design and child development professionals tended to be issues that were specific to the discipline such as anthropometries (design) or provision of cooking facilities for children (child development). A recommendation for a preliminary design guideline was made that included all characteristics viewed as important to either design or child development professionals. Implications of this research and recommendations concerning future investigations are included. / Master of Science

abstract: Workplaces are the place where people spend mostly half of their life there. It is not exclusive to office buildings and companies; indeed, in each department in every building there are individuals working behind the scenes in an attempt to better the society. The workplace environment must accomplish workers’ requirements that vary between physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. Thus, the employees can provide high performance and be more productive, which leads to a successful group, corporations, society, and world generally. The aims for this study were to explore the different strategies that big companies used to attract new employees and to ensure the well-being of the current workers within workplaces. In addition to investigating the effects of the workplace environment on the workers’ well-being in the previous studies, this research analyzes six cases of good examples for companies' headquarters and evaluating their design techniques. The results showed that these companies share the same factors to increase their workers’ well-being. Flexible workspaces that provide workers the ability to choose where, how, and when to work is the first factor. Promoting body movements, reducing stress and depression, and building private spaces or facilities to energize workers are other factors. However, most of the cases involved the inspirational encouragement in interior design as major factors to enhance workers’ well-being. Furthermore, some of the applied techniques in the buildings are similar, like offering a flexible workplace, while others vary following the company industry, image and location. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Design 2019

Syftet med vår studie är att få ökad kunskap om socialsekreterares upplevelse av den fysiska miljön i samtalsrummet på socialkontoret, och dess betydelse för det professionella mötet med klienter. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta socialsekreterare har vi besvarat frågeställningar om socialsekreterarens upplevelse av den fysiska miljön i samtalsrummet, vilka ramverk den fysiska miljön skapar för interaktionen med klienten samt hur makt yttrar sig i den fysiska miljön.  Intervjuerna genomfördes med hjälp av en semistrukturerad intervjuguide och den insamlade empirin har sedan tematiserats och analyserats i relation till tidigare forskning, samt med hjälp av miljöpsykologi och Foucaults teori om makt.  Resultatet visar att fysiska aspekter i rummet så som möbler, färg, fönster och annan utrustning kan fylla olika funktioner i förhållande till mötets syfte, säkerhetsaspekter samt vilken relation socialsekreteraren har till klienten. Dessa aspekter kan även förstärka eller hjälpa till att jämna ut den maktobalans som finns inbyggd i relationen mellan klient och socialsekreterare, samt ge en känsla av vem man blir när man kliver in i rummet. Resultatet visar även att upplevelsen av den fysiska miljön varierar utifrån personliga preferenser, tidigare erfarenheter, socialsekreterarnas bemötande och det sammanhang som ligger till grund för mötet. Utifrån insamlad empiri kan vi se att samtalsrummen många gånger inte är optimalt anpassade till de behov som finns i mötet med klienter. Trots svårigheter i att uppfylla och bejaka alla aspekter som är av betydelse i ett samtalsrum så ser vi att det finns många mindre, samt större förändringar som skulle göra nytta i en bred bemärkelse. Det finns även ett behov av en större variation av rum för att skapa bättre förutsättningar för både socialsekreterare och klient i det professionella mötet. Detta sett utifrån den kunskap som finns inom miljöpsykologi, maktteori, tidigare forskning samt socialsekreterares kunskap och erfarenheter. / The aim of this study is to gain increased knowledge about social secretaries' experience of the meeting rooms at the social services office, and its significance for the professional meeting with clients. Through qualitative interviews with eight social secretaries, we have answered questions about the social secretary's experience of the physical environment in the meeting room, what frameworks the physical environment creates for interactions with the client and how power manifests itself in the physical environment.  The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The collected empirical data has been thematized and analyzed in relation to previous research and with the help of environmental psychological and Foucault's theory of power. The results show that physical aspects of the room such as furniture, colours, windows and other equipment can fulfil different functions in relation to the purpose of the meeting, security aspects and what relationship the social secretary has with the client. These aspects can also strengthen or even out the power imbalance that exists between clients and professionals, as well as they give a sense of who you become when you step into the room. The results also show that the experience of the physical environment varies based on personal preferences, previous experiences, the approach of the social secretaries and the context that underlies the meeting.  Our collected material shows that the meeting rooms are often not optimally adapted to the needs that exist in meetings with clients. Despite difficulties in fulfilling and affirming all aspects that are of importance in a meeting room, we see that there are many smaller as well as major changes that would be useful in a broad sense. There is also a need for a greater variety of rooms to create better conditions for both the social secretary and the client in the professional meeting. This is seen on the basis of the knowledge that exists in environmental psychology, power theory, previous research and the knowledge and experiences of the social secretaries.