4.1.8. Balcony

The domestic setting needs a connection to the outside through intermediate spaces (e.g., balconies) with views of a neighborhood or communal green areas [56]. A residential balcony creates a flexible space for the diverse activities of occupants. Significantly, a balcony permits a connection with the outdoor space without leaving the indoor environment. The balcony can be attached to a personal space (e.g., bedroom) and public space (e.g., living room) or semi-private spaces in a domestic setting and becomes a prominent transitional space between the outside and inside for refreshment, which affect the quality of life in a residential environment [67]. External vision plays an essential role in the indoor-outdoor relationships in a domestic setting, where balconies promote occupants' opportunity to connect with nature (e.g., during COVID-19). A balcony creates a spatial change in the dwelling plan and makes it more flexible for use as a third room [12].

According to Mridha, a balcony is a changeover space between the outdoors and indoors and a source of air and light [57]. Madsen mentioned Jacob's photograph and stated that a balcony with a proper overhang promotes a healthy balance between daylight and shadow and the natural ventilation system and indoor comfort in a house [44]. According to Kim and Kim, despite all the positive uses of sunlight, ultraviolet rays become harmful to human skin. By removing the balcony space, inhabitants' chances of being exposed to indirect sun in a residential apartment increase [78].

According to Kennedy et al., specific physical and spatial design characteristics related to occupants' everyday living functions, privacy and indoor environmental comfort are significant factors to consider in the context of adding a balcony to a domestic setting [67]. The author found that most residents described their functional utilisation of balconies

for a varied range of household activities, such as preparing foods, gardening, exterior private space and other mixed attitudes, where privacy is the common phenomenon for all the inhabitants. Residents do not want to hear and engage with the other residents or the community noise from their private balconies. In that case, the balcony's location is a prominent design factor for the occupants [67]. Drying laundry and storage are also essential purposes of the balcony. Residents typically use their balconies for changes and everyday events, such as studying, relaxing, reading, care of pets, physical exercise or just inactive sitting. Contentiously, some inhabitants smoked on their balconies, annoying inhabitants of other residences [67]. Sometimes dust and other external pollution may enter through the balconies and dirty indoor spaces and furniture [67]. Lack of fencing and bar grills on balcony, windows and doors increased occupants' weakness to outside attacks and experience of distress, particularly during the night, due to insecurity [38].

The moisture and condensation consequences due to the balcony space's poor insulation have been stated in some studies. In a questionnaire survey in Seoul, most residents complained about mold and indoor dampness problems with a changed balcony. In that study, health problems among the children and residents were identified where balconies were removed [79]. Ozaki also discusses some ritual perceptions of a balcony that may impact the inhabitants, as the domestic environment is closely related to peoples' symbolic, private, secular life. The balcony is an individual's access to open spaces for personal utility purposes. Still, this space is frequently positioned at the front side of a building and some unsightly activities traditionally connected with a backyard, for example, laundry, drying, food preparation and washing, where the occupants prefer high privacy [80]. The overall relationship between the spatial and environmental design factors of a balcony is illustrated in Figure 13.

**Figure 13.** Relationship between spatial and environmental factors of balcony space. (Illustration: Author, based on the literature)

4.1.9. Lobby and Circulation Space

In 1986, Haber considered occupants' perceptions of a highrise housing lobby and identified that the need for communal interaction was a critical feature determining the occupants' assessment of this space [37]. It also seems that lobby design is an essential factor for occupants' communal experiences of highrise residential buildings and comprehensive research needs to be conducted to investigate influential lobby designs [37].

Consequently, circulation is vital for social interaction, where considering daylight and external views make circulation an enjoyable experience by offering spatial variation in the dwelling environment. The spatial enclosure enhances aesthetic and psychological responses to indoor environments. People generally feel secure in more open indoor spaces with better external visual connectivity [75,81]. Confirming suitable dimensions promotes circulation, enjoyable for less physically able people with an accessibility threshold criteria [56]. The lobby and circulation space are used for social interaction and occupants can also use this space for physical exercise, particularly children and older adults, who cannot go outside frequently in highrise residential apartment buildings. This area also promotes other household activities for women to enhance stress-free living [8]. The overall relationship is illustrated in Figure 14.

**Figure 14.** Relationship between spatial and environmental factors of lobby and circulation space. (Illustration: Author, based on the literature).

#### 4.1.10. Storage and Utilities

Generally, a house's storage and utility facilities refer to a place where various household necessities are stored. This can be a separate room or an area in the domestic space. According to Alexander, storage has become critical in housing development in recent years because houses are getting smaller over time. It is challenging to allocate extra space for storage and utility facilities in a domestic area [34]. The type of storage facility employed depends on the inhabitants' needs and demands in their daily household activities. Alexander mentioned that designers identified that almost twenty-five percent of a domestic space should be dedicated to storage facilities [34]. Storage and utility provision in a domestic setting promotes stress-free functional living for the occupants. The functionality of the storage space depends on the shape, size and location of the room. In many cases, a small unoccupied area of a dwelling, such as the unused space under the stairs or the top of the kitchen or toilet, is usually used as a storage space [56].

According to various studies, humidity and ventilation inside the room are very important for such storage and utility spaces. Without the right amount of light and ventilation, storage spaces can accumulate various fungi and mold growth, which is subsequently dangerous for stored goods and technical accessories [28,44,60]. The overall relationship between the spatial and environmental design factors of storage and utilities is illustrated in Figure 15.

**Figure 15.** Relationship between spatial and environmental factors of storage and utilities. (Illustration: Author, based on the literature)

#### *4.2. Domestic Environment and Occupants' Sociocultural Context*

In this study, different domestic spaces have been conceptualised according to spatial and environmental factors, reflecting occupants' domestic experiences based on the academic literature. A domestic environment expresses a symbolic connection of occupants' contextual factors through the user's life journey [33]. Regardless of the spatial features and environmental design components, each domestic space provides its dwellers with senses that serve their individual needs and demands [35]. Therefore, a domestic environment comprises individual emotional expression, spatial requirements and contextual relationships [35,39].

Accordingly, several studies highlighted the status of macro-level features such as sociocultural factors (e.g., climate, profession, culture, education, religion, sex, age, household compositions) shaping individual perception in a domestic living environment. Hence, contextual factors affect occupant's behavior and perception due to diverse social and cultural aspects [35]. The sociocultural aspects of spatial characteristics are related to occupants' lifestyles, which indicate different environmental preferences under different domestic settings and circumstances [82,83]. Studies also showed that environmental factors are affected by the varying needs and choices of user groups. According to Lawrence, the space-use of a dwelling and morphological changes cannot be disconnected from differences in the sociocultural meaning, as well as household personalisation, which establishes changes in an occupant's relationship with the home environment [29]. Therefore, in a domestic setting, occupants' personalisation diverges concerning social and cultural factors and lifestyle behavior [29,33,35,82]. Thus, domestic living concepts synchronise users' diverse sociocultural relations, along with spatial and environmental preferences that may enhance occupants' wellbeing [6,29].

Nonetheless, social and cultural values play an essential role in defining space identity and rituals, which may affect occupants' perceptions in their domestic private spaces [26,29,31,37]. Therefore, identifying the core relationship between spatial, environmental and user contextual factors in domestic spaces is significant in architectural design to interpret occupants' experiences (Figure 16.). Several ethnographic studies illustrate that sociocultural phenomena' domestic spatial appearance is articulated in numerous ways, influenced by individual choice according to regional and social code variation. Hence, a different cluster of user activities may change domestic spaces' spatial and environmental preferences because of a complex sociocultural phenomenon [82,83]. However, this study mainly indicates the theoretical correlation between spatial and environmental factors within domestic spaces; combining users' sociocultural context with a pragmatic understanding of designing domestic space is suggested for future direction.

**Figure 16.** Relationship between spatial, environmental and sociocultural factors for a domestic setting. (Illustration: Author, based on the literature).

#### **5. Discussion and Future Research Direction**

From the above discussion, occupants living in each space in a household have different needs and preferences regarding spatial and environmental aspects related to their psychological and behavioral factors. However, sociocultural factors influence the occupants' spatial and environmental attributes, which are closely intertwined, and shape those relationships. Research into domestic environments' spatial and environmental factors usually relies on the inhabitants' behavioral and psychological attributes [42]. These factors need to be considered to understand domestic spaces' diversities to enhance occupants' feelings of satisfaction and comfort. According to several studies, adequate knowledge of spatial activities in a household environment tends to access the occupants' overall behavioral process within a domestic setting [6,9,12,42]. It is also imperative to determine the occupants' spatial and environmental experiences in different domestic settings and utilise them accordingly in the architectural design solution.

According to the literature, this review identified twelve spatial factors for the domestic environment according to occupants' needs and demands (Table 1). Consistent with different domestic spaces, attempts were made to explore the correlation of environmental factors with each spatial factor in view of occupants' experiences. From this review, it has been observed that privacy, functionality and aesthetics are the prominent spatial factors for different spaces in domestic environments that impact occupants' psychological experiences, considering their needs and demands. The overall discussion also suggests that any domestic area's privacy is related to its environmental design factors such as size, shape, location, visual connectivity to the external environment and sound, where the occupants' lifestyle has a significant impact. For functionality, ventilation, daylight and outdoor connectivity indicate essential design components, as well as the opening system, shape and location.

Additionally, space layout and ergonomics also have influential connectivity to occupants' psychological perceptions. However, in almost every domestic space, nature connectivity, natural and artificial light, interior color scheme, smell and the nature of the material used to accelerate the occupant's aesthetic perceptions. Subsequently, any place's aesthetic features profoundly affect the minds of the people living there. Most studies have identified that residents value the indoor environment's quality (e.g., daylight, noise, ventilation, artificial light spectrums) in domestic spaces, which are closely connected to the comfortable living concept. Other issues, such as indoor dust, mold, moisture, pollutants and dampness are directly related to occupants' physical and mental health. Occupants prefer to control these issues according to their choices regarding safety and hygiene. Looking at the safety–security measures in different domestic spaces, environmental design phenomena such as opening system, screening, quality of materials, accessibility, light and color generally indicate the most influential design components according to occupants' experiences.

Overall indoor environmental components such as light, color, temperature, materials, layout, shape, size, height, opening and greenery affect human interactions and emotions. Research has shown that furniture arrangemen<sup>t</sup> in a space significantly affects the behavior when living there. In that sense, all the elements of a room are closely related to each other. In 1986, Pennartz mentioned that a room's spatial and environmental arrangemen<sup>t</sup> affects occupants' experience in a domestic environment [21].

**Table 1.** Occupants' spatial factors in the domestic environment.

(Here, the color field indicates the factors' essentiality for different domestic spaces).

The above study also identified that, in a domestic environment, the public zone can be divided into subzones, separated by a movable light partition or door and allocated as the study area, gues<sup>t</sup> room, prayer space or work station, etc. Besides, circulation spaces or lobbies can be used for children's play areas or for adults' physical exercise, where safety–security and psychological emotions are very important to consider. The essential aspects in the kitchen are flexibility, functionality and safety–security for users. A kitchen is a place where, usually, the family members of the house spend most of their time. As a result, occupant's emotional issues, as well as other practical and functional issues are strongly related to this place. The cooking space encourages interaction between family members. Research has also identified that cleanliness and hygiene are the most significant factors for residents, whereas adequate lighting, ventilation and layout provide peace of mind. Other design components, such as furniture, ergonomics and functionality are closely related to occupants' psychological satisfaction and comfort.

Furthermore, the relationship with the outside environment through windows, wall color, room shape and size, balcony and toilet attachments create a spiritual connection with the human mind. The occupants usually prioritise adequate ventilation systems, fixture layout, lighting and odor quality when considering bathrooms and toilets in a domestic environment. The windows of a house create a connection between the occupants' outside and inner world. Studies on highrise residential buildings have shown that large windows or window height negatively impact the occupants in many cases. This effect is especially evident in women and children who live on the top floor of highrise buildings. The balcony has recreational facilities and some ritual perceptions that may impact the occupants in their domestic environments. The overall conceptual parametric relationship between spatial and environmental design factors in different domestic spaces is illustrated, according to the literature, in Figure 17.

Moreover, during the COVID situation, working from home grew increasingly predominant. Every home needs an environment where work can be done peacefully. In that case, the bedroom, study area, dining space or living space can be utilised in a dual way considering their space usability, functionality and flexibility. Consideration of these design components depends on the occupants' contextual status. Users adjust their personal spaces according to their individual context and try to find pleasure or satisfaction in their living environments. However, consideration of different dwelling models and the pragmatic nature of spaces also influence numerous occupants' perceptions of workability because of their diverse shapes, sizes and multi-functionalities [84]. In general, residential satisfaction depends on occupants' needs and preferences, which are closely related to the spatial and environmental components in living environments. Consequently, occupants may achieve happiness by changing or modifying their living environments' physical characteristics to create more comfortable settings.

**Figure 17.** The overall conceptual parametric relationship of occupants' domestic environmental experiences.

After 1970, architectural psychological concepts emerged on human performance, wellbeing and control in built-environmental research [1,6]. However, these are mainly limited to evaluating institutional and health care spaces. According to studies, limited research is conducted on domestic environments and occupant experiences [6]. Nonetheless, studies of architecture and environmental psychology concerning residential settings mainly focus on indoor environmental quality related to occupants' behaviors and physical health risks [28].

From the reviews, it is clear that, in any living condition, occupants' behavior is affected not only by the spatial and environmental aspects but also the occupants' perceptions, feelings and needs, as well as the users' sociocultural context [85]. Occupants who use domestic spaces may have specific values and standards for a given area regarding meaningfulness, attachment and perceptions. Individuals' sociocultural contextual situations may impact different spaces or rooms in a domestic setting, where spatial behavior is related to various cultural and social factors and user preferences. Today's architectural design approaches do not adequately address the relationship between users' context, spatial and environmental design factors, along with occupants' psychological satisfaction and comfort [6,85].

From the literature, it has also been identified that there is a study gap between two current theories, "Environmental Deterministic"and "Social Constructivism" that drive users' experiences within the built environment [86,87]. Here, the "Environmental Deterministic" theory based on environmental psychology describes the physical environmental impacts on human behavior. The scope of explanation about user contexts is limited, to some extent, in this theory. Consequently, the "Social Constructivism" theory describes cultural and social perceptions as challenging to measure or correlate the effects of the built environment is limited [85]. However, the position of "*Environmental Experience Design (EXD)*" between the two spectra derives from users' physical and psychological experiences and addresses users' sociocultural, spatial and environmental design aspects (Figure 18).

**Figure 18.** Research gap and future research direction.

This design approach may combine users' spatial preferences and environmental design factors, as well as users' sociocultural context, through their domestic experiences, which may improve occupants' mental wellbeing [6,7]. Therefore, this study establishes a theoretical relationship between spatial and environmental design factors based on the literature, focusing on occupants' experiences in different domestic spaces, where a users' contextual situation plays a critical role in enhancing their wellbeing in domestic settings. Therefore, combining occupants' preferences according to their sociocultural context with spatial and environmental design factors will be a future research direction to explore in the sustainable notion of "*Domestic Environmental Experience Design*".
