An Investigation into the concept of privacy in contemporary Saudi houses from a female perspective: a design tool.

Abstract

This research investigates the concept of privacy in the context of Eastern region houses of Saudi Arabia. This concept had been explored in numerous fields in literature, such as psychology and internet security, where literature referred back to individual’s personal preferences that translated social and cultural needs. As a concept, privacy is one of the social elements that needed to be considered within the scope of spatial design, an element that filled some of the gap between architects and clients’ needs as expressed by literature. This research investigated the factors that shaped privacy inside the environment of the ‘house’ from the perspective of female users. Also, it looks at female perspective because of their role inside the house, interior spatial patterns in the house that reflect social patterns. For that, a qualitative ethnographic methodology was employed to help in the investigation process of the concept of privacy. Observation and interviews were the methods selected to communicate with a selected sample to get an insight of what privacy means to female users and the way they represented that meaning in the house design and patterns of use. The investigation was to study and analyse designs from traditional and contemporary houses supported with ethnographic data to document privacy interpretation inside the Saudi house. From that, spatial design elements were addressed in both traditional and contemporary houses that led to the developed design tool. The design tool, functional and spatial relationship guide, aimed to assist interior architects and interior designers in their design process of houses that respect social needs of privacy. That tool was evaluated by multiple focus groups taken by professionals from the field. The research contribution lies in identifying the meaning and boundaries of privacy in the perspective of Saudi female users of contemporary houses in the Eastern region. Moreover, the development of the design tool which helps produce house designs that are socially acceptable and respect privacy needs of users.