Investigation of Physical Elements of Residential Buildings: A Case Study of Apartments in Kaorubchang, Muang, Songkhla.

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the physical elements of apartments in Kaorubchang, Muang, Songkhla. Two groups of the subjects were (1) twelve resident managers from purposive sampling, and (2) fifty residents from simple random sampling. The instruments were interview, note-taking, and photographs, and the data were analyzed by comparing with the standard design criteria. The findings revealed that: (1) Regarding physical characteristics; most apartments were designed vertically, the designs were not luxurious, the building plans were dependent on the size and the shape of the land, the approximate height of the buildings was 15 meters or equivalent to the 5 to 7 storey buildings, and the balconies were rather small as a result of construction cost reduction. (2) Regarding the residents’ opinions toward the physical characteristics of the apartment, the residents rated highly in the following aspects; increase the balcony is space (60%) , increase the parking space (54%) , increase the numbers of the fire escape (56%), increase the numbers of the elevator (40%), improve the color of the buildings (30%), increase the numbers of fixed panel window and ventilator (34%).