User-centric sustainable design in mass-customized housing using Kano model and quality function deployment

With the rise of individual consumerism, housing developers have increasingly recognized the advantages of mass-customized housing and offered customized units for target groups. However, overall building designs are often standardized rather than tailored to user needs, particularly in the integration of sustainable features. Accordingly, this study employed the Kano model and quality function deployment (QFD) approach to examine users’ requirements for sustainable features and proposed tailored design strategies for mass-customized housing. After identifying 17 sustainable features through a literature review, the study analyzed 576 valid questionnaires using the Kano model to identify common and unique requirements across four age groups. The results reveal distinct priorities for different groups regarding particular features, including ‘Well-proportioned units,’ ‘Rational building layout,’ ‘Livability,’ ‘Convenience,’ ‘Energy and water efficiency,’ and ‘Use of local and ecological materials.’ Moreover, this study proposed 31 design strategies corresponding to sustainable features and categorized them into three zones using QFD, which serve as tailored solutions. This study recommends that architects gradually adopt these zones in mass housing to promote overall building designs in the move toward full customization. The study also identifies difficult-to-implement strategies and three relevant barriers, two barriers related to cost and supply chain that require government intervention, and one barrier that necessitates further exploration of users’ willingness to incur additional costs resulting from these strategies. This research provides valuable insights into, and a systematic methodology for, mass-customized housing projects, thus promoting user-centric and sustainable living environments.