Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering

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A Study on Small Apartment Design in China:

Evaluation on the Impressions of and Preferences
for the Floor Plans

Lei Sima

To cite this article: Lei Sima (2015) A Study on Small Apartment Design in China: Evaluation
on the Impressions of and Preferences for the Floor Plans, Journal of Asian Architecture and
Building Engineering, 14:2, 307-314, DOI: 10.3130/jaabe.14.307

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.14.307

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 A Study on Small Apartment Design in China:
Evaluation on the Impressions of and Preferences for the Floor Plans

Lei Sima*1

1
Assistant Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, China

Abstract
As house prices keep soaring in China, in 2006, the Chinese government issued a policy determining
that 70% of newly built housing should be small apartments of no more than 90m2. In order to optimize
the floor plan design of apartments of such a limited size, it is essential to understand how people cognize
different plans, as well as their prior concerns over distinct spatial demands. In this study, seven similar
but distinguished 90m2 apartment plans were made on the basis of the findings in past research, and a
comparative study was thus carried out through a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire studied the
respondents' impressions of as well as preferences for the plans. The results suggested that people's
impressions of apartment floor plans were composed of four main factors—atmosphere, efficiency,
pleasantness and design originality. Moreover, although the efficiency aspects contributed much to people's
overall judgment of the plans in general, respondents with different gender tended to have a distinct
understanding of efficiency, while those of different age and occupation had disparate sensitivity to efficiency
and pleasantness as well as the design originality of the plans.

Keywords: housing; China; small apartment; apartment design; cognitive structure

1. Introduction process maintains soaring real estate prices in urban

1.1 Background
As part of the planned economy, from the 1950's to
1990's, almost all the residential housing in China was
allocated under the welfare-oriented housing system.1
However, ever since the reform and opening up policy
was formulated, the housing market has started to be
regarded as a business with great potential for national
economic growth. As a result, the state abolished
the welfare housing system in 1999, which initiated
the boom in the real estate market and by 2013,
the housing market mainly supported by individual
purchasers accounted for over 8% of the national GDP.
The new market-oriented housing system changed
every Chinese citizen's way of residence. The rising
number for the average housing area illustrates the
change: from 1999 to 2013, the per-capital living space
for urban dwellers in China increased from 9.8m2 to
over 30m2, which implies remarkable improvements in
the residential environment. However, the increasing
average area also brought about unexpected influences
to the housing market. As the continuing urbanization
*Contact Author: Lei Sima, Assistant Professor,
College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University,
1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, China
Tel: +86-15800757753
E-mail: stubomi@gmail.com
( Received October 6, 2014 ; accepted February 13, 2015 )
areas, housing developers also prefer to sell large-scale
housing so as to accelerate their investment recovery,
which has created an even heavier financial burden for
a family striving to afford a home.
To control the rocketing housing prices, the central
government has taken various measures to curb the
market and make commercial housing affordable to
more families. In 2006, a significant macro-control
measure was released by the State Council. The
document regulated that small apartments of less than
90m2 must account for at least 70% of the total space
of new residential housing development projects,
which was later known as the "7090 policy". 2
The policy started the size reduction trend for
housing and brought about great challenges to housing
design as well.
1.2 Past Research
(1) Methodologies and Main Findings
The release of the policy also generated various
research on small apartments in China, among which
a considerable part focused on the improvement of
floor plan designs. This research was generally divided
into two types. The first inspected the issue of space
usage as well as the spatial demands of respondents.
The investigations portrayed the general picture of
the living condition in a given floor plan through
measuring the furniture, and questioning family
members. Many of the studies mentioned how the

Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/May 2015/314 307

limited space available could not meet disparate user Table 1. Design Suggestions in Past Research
demands in today's society. Zhou (2010) investigated Subjects Suggestions References
Proportion Kitchen and bathroom space should be
over 100 households in Shanghai and pointed out that of minimized so that more space can be
Zhao, 2007
the most raised unmet spatial demand was the lack of Zhao, 2008
functional used for additional activities
space for working and study. Li (2011) mentioned that space to Kitchens and bathrooms should have
activity enough space as they are of great Dou, 2007
the popularity of internet-based electronic equipment space importance to the basic comforts of life
had made it increasingly difficult for people to separate Living room or bedroom space should
work from personal life. Therefore, most of the be expanded to contain various Xiao and Lu,
Position of additional functions such as working, 2008
interviewees in her study voiced their strong desire for space for study and exercise
a separate working area at home. additional 5m2 to 8m2 additional spaces should be
Zhao, 2008
The second set of research studied apartment activities saved for a multifunctional room that
Zhou, 2008
could be used as a spare bedroom or
floor plan design from a more macroscopic point of study
Liu, 2008
view. The research tended to discuss demands from Bedroom space could be reduced so as
Jiang, 2007
the sociological and psychological perspective. By to enlarge the living room, thus making
Chen et al.,
Proportion the living room space suitable for
analyzing the statistical data or inspecting new social of living activities like working and studying
2013
trends, the research identified the changes in family room to As people have more individual leisure Li and Zheng,
bedrooms interests, living room space could be 2011
values as well as life philosophies of Chinese urban reduced to make bedrooms larger for Lu et al.,
dwellers, which could have a potential influence personal activities 2013
on their spatial demands. A considerable amount of It is better to have a separate dining
space which could be used as a spare Jiang, 2007
research mentioned that similar to developed countries, operating space for cooking as well
the minimization of family size also had a profound Position
Zhang JT et
of dining
impact on the life of Chinese citizens. For instance, space Dining space could be combined with
al., 2007
Zhang LX et
in the home of a nuclear family, not much space is living room space to save space
al., 2007
necessary for sleeping, thus more space could be Liu, 2010
used for other activities (Liu, 2007) (Lu et al., 2013). Second bedrooms could be minimized
to save space for the master bedroom or Zhou, 2008
Furthermore, since small apartments are mainly living room
purchased by newly-weds, more than one study (Zhao, Proportion Relationships among family members
2008) (Chen et al., 2013) pointed out that the plan of the two tend to be equal, so no distinction Zhang LX et
bedrooms between the master bedroom and al., 2007
should be flexible enough to meet changing living second bedroom is necessary, thus Xue et al.,
conditions, as young couples go on to start a family. ensuring enough personal space for 2010
(2) The Distinct Design Suggestions everyone
As more people cook or bake, kitchen Li and Zheng,
To sum up, past research discussed small apartment space should be expanded 2011
floor plan design from the viewpoint of both current Kitchen size
With the growing trend of small
families and prevalence of catering Zhang LX et
usage conditions and potential future demands. services, kitchen space at home could al., 2007
However, although they both discussed similar issues, be reduced
like saving unnecessary space and meeting demands Kitchens should have doors to avoid the
spread of oil and smoke when cooking Zhao, 2008
for disparate activities, the research tended to give Chinese food
distinct, even opposite solutions. Frequently discussed Zhou and Lin,
subjects and design suggestions are listed in Table 1. Kitchen New technology in cooking exhaust 2007
design fans is helping to solve the smoke Liu, 2008
Whilst the suggestions sound reasonable, it seems problem, thus western style open Liu, 2010
the research cannot reach a consensus on what kinds kitchen designs might also be suitable Li, 2010
of designs are desired by the majority of homeowners. in Chinese homes Lu et al.,
2013
Moreover, it is still difficult to define whether a plan A single bathroom is enough to meet
is satisfactory according to the findings as it is almost the needs of a family with 2 to 4 Zhao, 2007
impossible to meet all the potential demands and apply Number of members
bathrooms A large number of interviewees wanted
all the improvement measures to an apartment floor a second bathroom for visitors or
Zhou et al.,
2010
plan within a very limited size of 90m2. housekeepers
Therefore, to improve small apartment floor plan The research also intends to evaluate people's
design, it is essential to clarify people's priorities impressions, so as to understand their primary concerns
regarding their spatial demands. regarding floor plans.
1.3 Purpose And, by making comparison studies of alternative
Considering the aforementioned problems, the floor plans, people's preferences for plans, as well as
purposes of this study firstly lie in applying various their priorities for spatial designs, can be clarified. And
design solutions from past studies on practical finally, by testing the correlations between people's
small apartment floor plans, in order to explore new preferences and their natural attributes, it is possible
possibilities for plan designs. to distinguish different kinds of people's spatial
preferences.

308 JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima

 Fig.1. The Alternative Apartment Floor Plans
2. Materials and Methods
2.1 The Alternative 90m2 Apartment Floor Plans
To make the plans more variable, the study tried to
apply the design possibilities suggested by past studies
to apartments of around 90m2, and created seven floor
plans with distinct characteristics. In addition, all the
plans have analogous contours to make them more
comparable to each other.
The designed apartments were those on the periphery
of a given plan, with three flats to a floor. The average
building area of the plans is 89.65m2 with a variance of
0.3m2. The average usable area is 78.25m2. The usable
area to building area ratio of the plans is about 0.87,
which matches the common proportions of apartments
in China.
Alternative plans are listed in Fig.1. The features and
design intentions are as follows.
As Choi (2014) pointed out, Asian nations with
different climates and cultures tend to have very
distinct spatial structures in their apartment units.
JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima
Plan 1 is the most common floor plan for apartments
in China, which have two bedrooms and a living
space composed of separate dining and living rooms.
However, although most Chinese homes have this kind
of closed-in kitchen, considering the popularity of new
technological kitchen equipment, plan 2 shows an open
kitchen combined with the dining room, which has
a much longer kitchen countertop, as well as a more
commodious dining space, in comparison to plan 1.
Plan 3 merges the dining and living space together
and minimizes the kitchen space, so as to add a
third room to the plan as suggested in past research.
Plan 4, on the other hand, uses the saved space to
accommodate a second bathroom. Thus the master
bedroom could have a private bathroom as is often
seen in apartments of over 100m 2. Plan 5 reduces
part of the living space to expand the north-oriented
second bedroom. With the additional space, the room
can accommodate various activities and is especially
suitable for use as a child's room, which can meet
309
changing demands as the child grows up.
South-facing living rooms were traditionally
included in apartment floor plans, but because people
today tend to have many personal interests and
hobbies, plan 6 and plan 7 challenge the regular design
traditions by locating living rooms in the northern part
of the plan and enabling bedrooms to face south. Plan
6 has a luxurious master bedroom with a built-in study;
while plan 7 has two south-facing bedrooms and open
living space on the northern side, with an open kitchen
directly connected to the living room.
2.2 Analysis Methods
People's impressions of the seven plans were
tested using semantic differential methods, while
their preferences were examined through rank tests.
The impression test was composed of 17 evaluation
parameters. All the parameters were evaluated by
adjective pairs using a 7-point scale with the midpoint
of 4. The rank test, on the other hand, requested the
respondents to give their overall preference order of
the plans from 1 to 7 with no tied ranks. The ranks
were transformed into point scores following the rule
of the first rank counting for 7 points, down to the last
rank counting for 1 point.
In the analysis process, factor analysis was
carried out to obtain the primary factors forming the
respondents' impressions, and the relationship between
the factor analyses and rank test results were also
tested to quantify how people's impressions contributed
to their overall judgment.
In addition, to clarify the relationship between
respondents' preferences and their natural attributes,
correlations between the rank scores and the attributes
of the respondents were tested. All the analyses used
SPSS 19.0 for statistical evaluation.
Fig.2. Respondents' Demographic Information
2.3 Survey Outline
The survey was carried out from November 2013
to June 2014 and received 532 valid answers. All
the respondents were urban Chinese residents. The
gender, age, place of residence and occupations of
the respondents are shown in Fig.2. Here the place
310 JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima
of residence was divided into southern and northern
China 4 while their occupations were divided into
architectural-related jobs (including students majoring
in architecture or other related subjects; architects and
people working in real estate) as well as those working
in other industries.
3. Results
3.1 Primary Factors of Respondents' Impressions
Factor analysis (using squared Euclidean distance)
was carried out using semantic differential test results.
Results showed that the sampling adequacy was in
the acceptable range (KMO = .805, significance of
Bartlett-Test = 0.00). Meanwhile, four main factors
were isolated, which accounted in total for 75.68% of
the variance. All the 17 parameters received loadings
greater than +/-.65 on one of the four factors as listed
in Table 2.
Considering the loading distribution, parameters
including: (1) the environment is relaxing/depressing;
(2) the plan has a warm/cool aura; (3) the plan provides
a strong sense of privacy/openness; (4) the space feels
spacious/compact; (5) the walking routine is smooth/
unsmooth were selected to represent the first factor that
accounted for 24.20% of the variance, and the factor
was named as the "atmosphere" of the plan.
The second factor was more loaded by parameters
such as (1) the use of space is efficient/inefficient;
(2) the plan is suitable for families with more/
less members; (3) the kitchen layout is adequate/
inadequate; (4) the connection between the kitchen and
dining space is reasonable/unreasonable; (5) bathroom
space is sufficient/insufficient; which was named as the
"efficiency" of the plans, and accounted for 21.86% of
the variance.
Parameters including: (1) the daylight property is
satisfactory/unsatisfactory; (2) the ventilation property
is satisfactory/unsatisfactory; (3) the living room is
pleasant/unpleasant; (4) the bedroom arrangement
is pleasant/unpleasant; had more impact on factor 3,
which was named as the "pleasantness" of the plan,
and accounted for 17.83% of the variance.
The fourth factor, on the other hand, was more
represented by (1) whether the plan's design was
creative/orthodox; (2) the plan was impressive/
ordinary; and (3) the plan was capable/incapable of
meeting different demands. This factor was considered
as the "design originality", which accounted for
11.79% of the variance.
The average scores for the four factors of each
plan were also calculated. As is illustrated in Fig.3.,
plan 5 received high scores for all the factors while
plans 2 and 4 had comparably balanced yet middle-
range scores. Additionally, plan 1 received high scores
for factors except design originality, plan 3 received
remarkably high scores for its efficiency, while plans 6
and 7 obtained high scores for their design originality.
Table 2. Adjective Loadings on the Four Dimensions more, it is also notable that plan 6 and plan 7 received
Component standard divination higher than 5, which implied the
1 2 3 4 respondents had very divided opinions on the two plans
Design — some liked them to a great degree, others disliked
Atmos- Effi- Pleas-
origi-
phere ciency antness
nality them completely.
The environment is relaxing/
.823 .389 .247 .042 Table 3. The Rank Test Results
depressing
The plan has a warm/cool aura .843 -.147 .007 .190 General
Plan No. Average score Standard divination
The plan provides a strong sense Rank
.764 .553 .190 .152 1 5 5.35 2.54
of privacy/openness
The space feels spacious/ 2 1 5.22 3.45
.671 .333 .321 .083 3 3 4.87 3.65
compact
The walking routine is smooth/ 4 2 4.45 4.02
.814 .142 .279 -.047 5 6 4.22 5.24
unsmooth
6 4 3.89 3.41
The use of space is efficient/
.082 .856 .362 .024 7 7 3.82 5.67
inefficient
The kitchen layout is adequate/
.047 .751 .448 -.031 Taking each plan's average scores for the four factors
inadequate
The plan is suitable for families
.371 .845 .021 .024 as the independent variables and the mean of the rank
with more/less members
The connection between kitchen scores as the dependent variables, a regression model
and dining space is reasonable/ .432 .665 .139 .206 was made to calculate how the factors contributed to
unreasonable the respondents' overall judgments. Table 4. shows the
The bathroom space is sufficient/
insufficient
.450 .697 .002 .259 linear regression analysis result. The result suggested
Daylight property is satisfying/
.054 .351 .787 -.138
an acceptable correlation (R2 = .558), thus atmosphere,
unsatisfying efficiency, pleasantness and design originality could
Ventilating property is
satisfactory/unsatisfactory
.276 .472 .648 -.058 be considered as adequate variables to explain people's
The living room is pleasant/
.257 .243 .864 .131
general preferences regarding apartment floor plans.
unpleasant
The bedroom arrangement is Table 4. The Linear Regression Analysis
.236 -.098 .781 .167
pleasant/unpleasant Adjusted R Std. Error of
The plan's design is creative/ R R Square
.038 .070 .020 .739 Square the Estimate
orthodox .752 .565 .558 .505
The plan is impressive/ordinary .183 .075 .073 .842
The plan is capable/incapable of Unstandardized Standardized
.053 -.014 .001 .707
meeting different demands Coefficients Coefficients t Sig.
Sums of Total 4.113 3.716 3.031 2.004 B Std. Error Beta
Squared % of Variance 24.197 21.861 17.832 11.790 (Constant) .238 .026 35.734 .000
Loadings Atmosphere .289 .026 .441 10.919 .000
Cumulative % 24.197 46.057 63.889 75.679 Efficiency .286 .027 .436 10.774 .000
Pleasantness .174 .026 .209 5.190 .000
Design
.137 .026 .265 6.552 .000
originality
a. Dependent Variable: General Rank

3.3 Preference Diversities Among Respondents

Fig.3. The Average Factor Scores of Each Plan
3.2 The General Preference for the Plans
The mean value and standard deviation of the rank
test results that have been converted to the 7-point
score system are listed in Table 3.
The results suggested that plan 5 and plan 1 received
most support with average scores higher than 5, while
plan 3 also received a comparatively high score. Plan
2 and plan 6 had lower mean scores yet were still
higher than the midpoint of 4. Plan 4 and plan 7, on the
other hand, received mean values lower than 4. What's
Further analysis of different people's preferences
utilized t-testing to check the correlation between
the ranking score and the respondents' gender, place
of residence and occupation; and F-testing was used
to check the correlation between the score and the
respondents' age groups. Significant correlations in
attributes including gender, age and occupation were
recorded in Table 5. According to the test results,
females were fonder of plan 2, while males tended to
prefer plan 4. Meanwhile, young people and people
with architectural-related jobs tended to prefer plans 6
and 7, while those with jobs unrelated to architecture
preferred plan 1 and plan 3.
4. Discussion
4.1 Understanding of Apartment Floor Plans
(1) The Cognitive Structure of the Respondents
In the study, it was found that people's impressions
of apartment floor plans related to atmosphere,
efficiency, pleasantness, as well as design originality.

JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima 311

Table 5. Correlation Coefficient plan 3 also indicated stronger demands on personal
Plan Gender Age group Occupation space, rather than communal space in small apartment
No. t sig. F sig. t sig. plans. Meanwhile, as flexible and spacious bedroom
1 0.032 0.975 0.879 0.454 2.520 0.013 suites made plan 5 the most popular, additional space
2 -2.035 0.044 0.088 0.967 -1.165 0.247
3 -0.670 0.504 2.655 0.051 3.382 0.001 attached to the bedroom could be more welcome than a
4 2.013 0.048 0.878 0.455 -0.048 0.962 fixed third room.
5 1.178 0.241 0.506 0.679 0.470 0.639
6 0.148 0.883 8.114 0.000 -3.504 0.001 Plan 2 ranked in the middle position out of the
7 -0.727 0.469 4.640 0.004 -3.175 0.002 seven plans. It seemed that although the traditional
closed kitchen was still preferred by more people, the
The concept of atmosphere indicated emotional
perception was not that fixed, as a considerable number
feelings and positive sentiments, including feelings of
of people also liked the western-style open kitchen.
relaxation, warmth, spaciousness, convenience as well
Both plan 6 and plan 7 received lower ranks in the
as a good sense of privacy. In contrast, the qualities
test. Therefore, it seemed that although personal space
of efficiency and pleasantness tended to involve
had priority over communal space, most people still
some particular parts of the spatial arrangements.
preferred the living rooms to face south. Plan 4 also
The spatial efficiency was related to the quality of the
had a low rank, which indicated that other space had
kitchen, dining room and bathroom space. Meanwhile,
priority over a second bathroom in a small apartment.
pleasantness involved the comfort of living room and
4.3 The Influences of Gender, Age and Occupation
bedrooms, as well as the connection between the two,
(1) The Gender and Generation Gaps
which was related to the quality of ventilation and
The correlation test results suggested females and
daylight in the plan. In addition, design originality
males had separate opinions concerning plan 2 and plan
considered whether the plan was creative or flexible.
4. It is notable that the two plans attained the lowest
(2) The Functionality and Amenity of the Plans
scores for efficiency. Thus points on each parameter
It was also found that the four factors affected the
of the factor were further compared by gender. The
overall judgment in a linear relationship, with more
result (Fig.4.) illustrated that females and males had
influence from atmosphere and efficiency, and less
remarkably distinct valuations concerning the kitchen
from pleasantness and design originality. The model
of plan 2 and the bathroom of plan 4. For the open
also matched people's sentiments concerning what was
kitchen in plan 2, although the general judgment was
paramount in designs as people's feelings having been
within the average level, the majority of the female
found to impact on their overall judgment to a great
respondents tended to support it. As females generally
extent. Furthermore, as it is usually difficult to balance
use the kitchen more frequently than males, their
the efficiency and amenity components in a housing
support further illustrated the potential of western-style
plan, the model revealed that in small apartments, the
kitchens in Chinese families.
majority of people valued functional aspects more
The comparison also suggested that the second
than comfort aspects. The plans' mean factor scores for
bathroom in plan 4 was more preferred by males. It
the two, on the other hand, implied possible ways to
seemed males were more concerned about inequitable
improve the design.
usage of bathrooms and preferred a private bathroom
Plan 3 and plan 5, the two plans with minimized
in the master bedroom.
kitchen space, attained the highest scores for
functionality. In contrast, plans with open kitchens or
two bathrooms received lower scores. It seemed that
small kitchens with closing doors were considered the
most efficient kitchen layout in a small apartment, and
a second bathroom regarded as uneconomic.
Plan 5 and plan 6 attained highest scores for
pleasantness. Both of the plans had large bedrooms
with much extra space inside. Therefore, the
respondents seemed to consider it pleasanter to
accommodate activities such as work and study inside
bedrooms, rather than in the communal living space.
4.2 Desirable and Undesirable Designs Fig.4. Gender Differences in the Understanding of Functionality
The rank test results suggested that plan 5, plan
Meanwhile, although plan 6 and plan 7 were not
1 and plan 3 were comparatively desirable. Among
desired by the majority, the correlation test results
the three, plan 5 received the highest average score,
showed that the two plans received considerable
lowest standard variance and balanced mean scores
support from younger generations. As the two plans
for the four main factors, which heightened its wide
were also regarded as creative and unique, this could
range of popularity. Plan 3 was actually similar to
be explained by young people being more open to
plan 5 with the spare personal space combined into
novel designs. At the same time, young respondents
an additional room. The popularity of plan 5 and

312 JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima


Fig.5. 2D Correspondence Analysis Plot
tended to care more about the orientation of the
bedrooms, which suggested they might spend more
time in their bedrooms, rather than living rooms.
To inspect the cross impacts of gender and age
further, correspondence analysis was taken between
the respondents' favorite plans (the one they marked
in first place in the rank test) and the classified groups
of gender and age. The first two dimensions explained
.791 of the inertia and the distribution of the items on
the two dimensions is plotted on Fig.5.
The result generally matched the correlation tests
as plan 6 and plan 7 were more desired by young
people while females and males had contrasting
ideas concerning plan 2 and plan 4. In addition, the
plot offered more detailed information about age and
gender differences. Firstly, females tended to vote
more for plan 1, plan 2 and plan 7 as their favorite. All
the three plans had spacious kitchen and dining areas,
which attracted women of all ages. In contrast, males
preferred plan 4, plan 5 and plan 6, the three plans with
spacious master bedrooms. Meanwhile, age tended to
influence functional preference for the additional space
as younger males preferred an attached study space
while older males preferred a second bathroom.
What's more, the result suggested that people tend
to pay more attention to the spatial efficiency of the
plans as they get older—unlike the young respondents,
while more middle-aged respondents disliked plan 6
and plan 7, yet preferred plan 3, the compact plan with
remarkably high efficiency. This could be because
middle-aged people think more about the spatial
usage of all family members, rather than individuals.
And they might also spend more time in communal
spaces, rather than in bedrooms, compared to younger
respondents.
In brief, the results suggest that plan 1 and plan 5
received balanced support from people of all ages and
both genders, which could be the best designs to satisfy
all types of families. On the contrary however, plan 2
JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Lei Sima
was more preferred by females, plan 4 by males, plan
6 and plan 7 by the young and plan 3 by the middle-
aged. When designing apartments for a specific kind of
end user, these plans might be better choices.
(2) The Occupational Bias
The correlation tests also showed an interesting
finding, as people having architecture-related jobs
were more likely to appreciate plan 6 and plan 7, the
two plans with the higher scores concerning design
sense rather than functionality. However, people
having jobs unrelated to architecture preferred plan 1
and plan 3, which were orthodox in design yet highly
practical. The phenomenon could be considered as an
occupational bias as those having architecture-related
jobs tended to be more sensitive to a plan's design,
and interestingly, their preferences were similar to
those of young people. The result agrees with former
research in Korea (Choi and Cho, 2014) as significant
perceptual gaps about products exist between housing
providers and customers. Therefore, it might be
necessary for them to make efforts to modify their
work so as to make designs more acceptable to most
lay people.
5. Conclusion
In brief, this study intended to explore new
possibilities of small apartment floor plan designs in
China, and deduce people's impression structure, as
well as prior concerns about the floor plans.
In the survey, firstly seven similar yet distinct 90m2
apartment floor plans were made on the basis of past
research findings. The subsequent questionnaire
survey used a semantic differential test to evaluate
respondents' impressions, and a rank test to measure
their prior perceptions and demands.
The SD test result suggested that the main factors
composing the impression of the plans could be
measured as atmosphere, efficiency, pleasantness and
design originality. All the four factors contributed
highly to the respondents' overall judgment of the
plans while the factors of atmosphere and efficiency
had even greater influence.
The rank test results implied that most people
preferred more spacious personal space, rather than
communal space in small apartments. Meanwhile, the
traditional kitchens with closing doors and south-facing
living rooms were still preferred by the majority.
In addition, the study also found that people with
different genders, ages and occupations had divided
concerns about the plans. Females showed higher
acceptance of open kitchens, yet males tended to
appreciate second bathrooms. Young respondents
were more concerned about spatial pleasantness,
rather than efficiency, and had significant preferences
for comfortable and spacious bedrooms. Moreover,
it seemed respondents involved in architecture were
more impressed by originality and innovation in the
designs.
313
 The findings are expected to help in furthering
understanding of end user demands, when designing
small apartments in China. However, the study also
has limitations in both methodology and results. As
over 60% of the respondents had non-architecture
related jobs, they might not have a full understanding
of the merits and demerits of the designs, just from
floor plans and written explanations. Moreover, other
factors such as the band equity of the developer (Kong
and Kim, 2012), the green technologies used in the
building (Lee and Yeom, 2012) and the potential
economic value of the floor plans (Kang and Choi,
2004) could also have considerable impact on people's
impressions concerning housing products. Therefore,
further studies on the detailed concerns of respondents
will be carried out in the future.
Acknowledgements
The research was sponsored by the Shanghai
Yangfan Program (14YF1403600) and Shanghai
Pujiang Program (14PJC101).
Notes
1
As in other socialist nations, the Chinese housing sector has been
predominately designated as a "social" rather than an "economic"
sector. Private property ownership of housing in urban areas was
almost abolished, instead, there was state controlled production,
allocation, operation and pricing of urban housing. Against this
background, the welfare public housing system operated in China
since 1949 provided urban Chinese residents with low-cost
accommodation owned by the state before its abolition in 1999.
2 subjects. Housing Science, 32(12), pp.1-5.
In China, the saleable area of an apartment refers to its building
area, which includes the floor area occupied by the structure
(balcony accounts for half of its coverage area) and is composed
of the area inside the flat and the shared public space (the public
space in an apartment building is shared by each apartment
proportional to its inside area). The usable area of the apartment,
on the other hand, excludes the floor area occupied by the structure
and the shared public area. The usable area to building area ratio
usually varies from 0.75 to 0.95 according to the height of the
building (as the building height has influences on the size of the
public area). Therefore, the usable floor area of a 90m2 apartment
is generally around 70m2 to 80m2.
3 Architecture and Building Engineering, 13(3), pp.563-569.
The building codes in China have strict regulations on daylight, as
well as ventilation capabilities of residential buildings. In simple
terms, the major part of activity spaces (living room or bedroom)
should meet the daylight requirements, while the kitchen and
bathroom must have windows that can open to the outside of the
building. As a result, apartments in most cities must contain south-
facing spaces, and each floor in an apartment building is capable
of containing two to six apartments in general.
4 Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 11(1), pp.47-54.
The division of the place of residence used the geographical Huai
River–Qin Mountains line, which is commonly used to define
southern and northern China—the two regions with strong, distinct
regional identities in the self-perception of Chinese people.
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