ABSTRACT
Recently, the practice of evaluating the quality and performance of buildings, in relation to users satisfaction has developed rapidly and has become a common practice in developed countries. However, post-occupancy evaluation of public building types, most especially in educational institutions have not been fully utilized in developing countries. With this in mind, this research sought to carry out a Post-occupancy evaluation exercise on student hostels in the Nigerian environment, using the University of Benin as a case study. The aim is to identify major lapses that occur during the modification of hostel accommodations in Federal Universities pertaining to the Nigerian environment and to offer solutions where applicable and where not, taking note of the lapses not to be repeated in further designs and renovation exercises, with the use of feedback information from the occupants. The evaluation was based on design considerations, in terms of functionality, strength and aesthetics. The research methodology involved a field survey or case study. The field survey involved three (3) research approaches: walk-through observations, questionnaires and interviews with students and hostel staffs. The research had a sample population of three hundred and sixty-seven (367), from 9 different hostels, from a population of approximately 7040 students living on-campus. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software and the results were exported to Microsoft excel to generate the graphs used. Survey results show that 56% in the sample population were satisfied with the current state of their hostel. In addition, the survey results showed that the room as a design space, its internal and external facilities, water supply, power supply and physical environment, in the eyes of all users, are the most important design considerations. Furthermore, the research revealed that respondents in the old hostels were dissatisfied with the adequacy and functionality of their rooms and facilities like; laundry, bathroom, drainage, security, water supply and toilet facilities due to distance from rooms and the number of occupants in a room. Finally, the research recommends that the University of Benin and similar institutions in Nigeria, should provide more hostels through public-private partnership, to meet up with the growing population. Also, the practice of assessing the performance of the different building types in the school should be done on a routine basis and the occupants should be involved in the process to capture their needs and produce better designs for the
