Study on spatial quality of affordable housing in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The main goal of the Saudi Arabian Government housing policy is to provide its citizens with decent and safe accommodation. The thesis discussed an important feature, which is the user lifestyle, and how to implement it in the initial design concept at early stages of design of affordable housing. It will also make a building’s user more satisfied with the end product. Normally the design for affordable housing is based on the cost-reduction consideration and does not focus on the lifestyle of the traditional Saudi population. Therefore, alterations are being made which increase the cost of housing. During the past few years studies showed that there is a massive shortage of affordable housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because the construction industry has mostly concentrated on building houses for the higher income group. The objective of this research was to investigate the design and layout of affordable house in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to explore the issues and problems related to affordable housing in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The method of study was carried by taking interviews with the real estate company dealing with affordable residential projects. Based on the interviews being taken it was studied that there is a huge shortage of affordable housing in the kingdom. And the affordable housing currently being occupied by the users are not satisfactory as the user want to have privacy in their space and these houses do not reflect their lifestyle or tradition. Therefore modifications are made to satisfy their needs, which increase the construction cost of the houses. To further study the issue of affordable housing a case study about the King Abdullah Housing Foundation was carried out to study the satisfaction of residents. The foundation donates housing to low-income families. Observation of the plan and layout of 20 houses in the King Abdullah housing compound were studied. Discussions were done with the users of the housing compound as how each space of their home functions and what are the problems and limitation faced by the users. Another survey was done in Riyadh and Jeddah to study the need for a design in a typical middle income Saudi family house. This survey investigated the design requirement of typical Saudi families who have an income less than 7000 Saudi riyal per month. The survey studied the space, plan and interior style of the homes preferred by the Saudis. Finally, the reasons were identified for the limitation of affordable housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study provides the guidelines for designing future affordable homes, which helps in solving the problems faced by the Saudi users.