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Art and architecture are multidisciplinary fields with complicated assessments that, similar to the teaching and the learning process, are inconsistent with common assessment models. During submission, the presence of jurors, who have different approaches and standards for evaluating design projects, makes this issue more complicated. Numerous assessment and grading models are being used in architecture departments around the world. Some of these methods are based on the experiences of instructors from their lives as students, whereas some are based on university systems. Grading policies seem to be clear in most fields, but when the object of grading is an artistic product with different levels to be assessed and graded, the issue becomes more complex. This observation is especially true in the case in which quality is given a numerical grade.

The nature of skills that students are expected to develop and that are going to be assessed is often subjective. Such skills include invention, problem solving, and presentation. Problems of reliability, personal criterion, and unique perceptions lend difficulty in assessing such skills using traditional methods.

This research suggests that a criteria-based assessment and grading model is a more effective model in promoting student learning, making assessment and grading less complex and more explicit. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed and implemented criteria-based grading system has been tested at Eastern Mediterranean University using distributed questionnaires and a Rasch measurement system.

The main goal of architectural education is to increase the independency level of students in finding design solutions throughout their academic years. Despite numerous educational attempts, the lack of supplementary educational methods or tools is still acknowledged by scholars. The present study aims to help students undergo a smooth transition from being highly dependent to minimally dependent on instructors by developing an auxiliary tool that may be used together with critique sessions in design studios. In this study, the critical stages in the design process adopted by students are identified through interviews with instructors and questionnaires for architecture students at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Cyprus and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Basic theories are aligned with the needs and expectations of the chosen case studies to develop a user-friendly model in flash card format. The data analyses show that students and tutors all agree on the two main critical stages of design, namely data analysis and data development (synthesis) which ends with idea simulation. The developed model and the proposed flash cards attempt to connect these critical stages, which are usually skipped by students. Results show that students need to adopt and be equipped with sequences, priorities and creativity techniques in each step of the design process, and the proposed flash cards can help address this concern.

The existing concept in the building rating scheme especially in developing countries was more focused on the environment, economic, social and culture. The new approach of the classroom condition index (CCI) assessment scheme has its uniqueness in environmental and social aspects because of high building performance in secondary school buildings. The requirements set by the Ministry of Education Malaysia include providing a conducive learning environment, especially for students who are considered as the main users of classrooms in school buildings. Currently, the school administration needs to manually record the condition of the classroom to increase its comfort level. The lack of a structured scheme for classroom assessment makes it difficult for school administration to focus on the overall classroom condition (physical environmental aspect) in the school building. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for classroom conditions by proposing a CCI assessment scheme for a secondary school building in Malaysia.

Mixed methods were used to carry out the study. The first stage of this study concentrates on developing a system for CCI that relates to physical elements in the classroom. This is done by reviewing the literature on the classroom physical performance, as well as a comparison between several building rating systems locally and abroad. The structure of the proposed CCI scheme is grouped into four main themes, namely, space management quality (SMQ), building condition (BC), indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and teaching and learning quality (TLQ). In addition, there are 12 categories and 23 indicators listed under this theme. The second stage focuses on formulating assessment categories with their relevant performance indicators. This phase undergoes a validation process by conducting a survey (questionnaire) toward the classroom’s main users, which are students and teachers. This is to ensure the accuracy of classroom conditions in the school building. A semi-structured interview was also conducted among building experts. They are building surveyors, building engineers, building designers and building performance experts to support the main findings in the second stage. Relative importance (RI) index approach has been applied to show the indicators weighting and ranking are used as data collections method by using Statistical Package of Social Science software to examine the RI of each category and indicator, respectively.

The findings show that prominent RI and balanced weights are formed from these four main themes. They are SMQ (19.9%), BC (26.6%), IEQ (33.2%) and TLQ (20.3%). The outcome of this study will contribute to a detailed assessment scheme for CCI at the secondary school building. The contribution of the CCI Assessment Scheme is more comprehensive and holistic than the conventional assessment process for BCs. It focuses specifically on classroom space as it is the most important area to achieve a high level of comfort comparing to other spaces in the school building. This holistic approach encompasses all types of classrooms. The concept of one tool fits all is seen as no longer a relevant adaptation in this context. This proposed tool is to be used only for the classroom (as the name CCI implies) and it cannot be used for the other types of spaces, for instance, teacher room, library, meeting room, toilet, canteen and, etc. This is because different spaces represent different physical indicators to be classified. This, in turn, contributes to a conducive learning environment for students in the school.

This paper provides the current information, knowledge and findings related to the classroom physical indicators in developing the assessment scheme for the classroom environment. It will assist both technical and non-technical experts to clarify the current condition of classroom physical performance that ideally may affect the students’ learning environment. The novelty of CCI development is not only on the adopted method but it also includes the ideas on next generation model of rating system that ideally need specific indicators and weighting to be generated into an intelligent computerized system.

This study aims to confirm the inverse relationship between scheduled corrective maintenance (SCM) and corrective maintenance (CM) in health-care facility management. That is, the higher the SCM, the lower the demand for CM, and the lower the SCM, the higher the demand for CM. Furthermore, the study shows the importance of SCM as compared with CM in healthcare facilities.

This study investigated 28 services in facility engineering services for an exploratory study by using the open-ended approach of the grounded theory. Five years of data with a total of 20,480 SCM work orders and 84,837 CM work orders were extracted from the central management information system database. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program. Data were presented in the form of mathematical scores using descriptive statistics and correlation test to elaborate the variable characteristics and make conclusions.

This study provides empirical insights about the effectiveness of proactive maintenance in reducing breakdowns for systems or equipment in health-care facilities. Findings suggest that increasing SCM will reduce CM demands.

The location approach, with restrictions to the comparison between CM and SCM, still allows for exploration, especially on the factors that can reduce the demand for correction. These factors include planned preventive maintenance, work flow process, level of competency of maintenance workers and health-care maintenance strategic planning.

Proactive maintenance is important in preventing dangerous occurrences in hospitals. Reducing breakdowns increases customer satisfaction. Therefore, this study shows implications to health-care maintenance organizations in the context of business strategic development.

Data are crucial in proving a hypothesis. This study confirms the evidence of facility management demand theory and highlights the inverse relationship between SCM and CM.

Urban population growth has increased housing density, which has expanded the construction of low-cost low-rise residential in urban areas. Good building performance and effective low-cost low-rise residential quality lead to higher user satisfaction and improve building sustainability. This study aims to focus on the factors influencing the sustainability of low-cost low-rise residential in the West Malaysia urban area to assess resident satisfaction.

A mixed-mode approach with both qualitative and quantitative were used in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 stakeholders to identify the common factors influencing sustainability in low-cost low-rise residential. Subsequently, questionnaire surveys were formed and distributed among building users to determine the satisfaction level with low-cost low-rise residential building performance.

The finding demonstrates that accessibility is the key factor to achieving sustainability of low-cost low-rise residential. The finding also related to the factor that influences both stakeholders and building user satisfaction levels. This study also identifies key areas that require attention to improve user satisfaction with building sustainability and building performance of low-cost low-rise residential.

This study aims to determine stakeholder and building user satisfaction levels in relation to the sustainable building factor. A few indicators have been set up to identify the factors that most influence the sustainability and environment of low-cost low-rise residential buildings. Each subchapter has a few recommendations to improve the performance of low-cost low-rise residential. Each of the factors mentioned is related to social, economic and environmental sustainability. In addition, the study discovered a strong connection between low-cost low-rise residential performance and user satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the significant factors that contribute to the development of the assessment framework for wheelchair accessibility to National Heritage Buildings.

A qualitative approach was conducted via semi-structured interviews and go-along interview (Accessible Audit) through selected multiple case studies to reveal the main factors that contribute to the development of the assessment framework for wheelchair users in National Heritage Buildings in Malaysia. There are four National Heritage Buildings (gazetted under National Heritage Act, 2005) selected for this research.

The findings revealed a few significant factors comprising the physical built environment, organizational behavior and structure, financial resources, and existing legislation.

This research is limited to wheelchair users and National Heritage Buildings, which was conducted through semi-structured interviews and go-along interview (Accessible Audit).

This research investigates the standpoints of both the National Heritage Building operators and the wheelchair users pertaining to accessibility in National Heritage Buildings with regard to their respective roles as management and users.

The research demonstrates the importance of social participation effects on the accessibility in National Heritage Buildings based on empirical evidence in highlighting operators’ and wheelchair users’ challenges toward enhancing their accessibility.

This research will be a great contribution to the development of the assessment framework for wheelchair accessibility in National Heritage Buildings in Malaysia, including accessibility for pushchair, elderly, and pregnant women.

This paper aims to assess factors that affect carbon sequestration on green roofs.

The most current academic literature related to carbon sequestration and green roofs carbon sequestration performance was reviewed.

Factors affecting carbon sequestration were discussed and classified into the following factors: plants, physical and maintenance factors. The authors’ findings are significant because they can be used to optimize green roofs performance for carbon sequestration.

Factors affecting carbon sequestration will optimize intensive green roofs performance.

The rising awareness of the significance of protecting the environment and reducing the carbon footprints of buildings has led to the development of sustainable or green office buildings that are believed to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Despite this, not many have studied the extent of impacts between green classification and rental depreciation in Malaysia, besides the other traditional causes. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to identify the relationship of building characteristics and location factors, namely, green building classifications (BCLs), location and site (LOT), building engineering and services (BES) and building appearance and design (BAD) that contribute to rental depreciation in the Golden Triangle Area of Kuala Lumpur.

A survey using a questionnaire was used in the data collection targeting the selected Kuala Lumpur commercial purpose built office building property managers. To establish the significance and relevance of the model, this study employed the PLS algorithm and bootstrapping procedures.

This research suggests that there were significant impacts of LOT, BAD, and BES towards rental depreciation. On the contrary, sustainable classifications were found insignificant towards rental depreciation.

The novelty of this study is that it proposes the sustainable classifications as one of the components in analysing the commercial property depreciation.

Teaching and learning processes are conducted formally in a classroom as the main learning space for schooling system, where it should be implemented effectively to achieve a desired level of satisfaction and comfort for the students. To encourage and sustain students’ motivation for continuous learning, specifically at secondary school level, classroom capacity is increasing significantly. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the guidelines and regulations of building design standard compliance, specifically for classrooms, and suggest the suitability of classroom capacity based on two main courses offered at the secondary school level.

Two sets of perimeters were used in this study to gauge the intended results, namely, mixed method was used to carry out the study. The first indicator was a quantitative method whereby the current area of 20 selected classrooms (length × width) was physically measured and recorded. The second indicator used was a qualitative method, through a semi-structured interview.

The findings showed that 55 per cent of classroom capacity in secondary school buildings complied with the existing guidelines, the stipulated design regulations and the classroom area requirement. The current area of classroom standing is at 2.25 m² per student with an observable increase in students’ satisfaction during the teaching and learning processes. However, the findings from the semi-structured interview highlighted interesting points in relation to the suitability of classroom capacity. The teachers felt that classroom capacity affected performance of students based on two categories, namely, classroom-centred learning and classroom-less learning. The respondents agreed that the classroom-centred learning approach and classroom-less learning approach worked best with a maximum of 22 and 30 students per classroom, respectively.

This paper provides the current information, knowledge and findings related with real classroom capacity at a secondary school building that may affect students’ performance, while focus had always been on types of classroom, gadgets and qualified teaching staff. Hardly any valuable attention is given to the space these students spend almost a good part of their day for the rest of the week, over their formative learning period. Perhaps like the model of cars and sitting capacity, model classroom area and maximum capacity explored to ensure objectives irrespective of the driver, the teacher of the class. Therefore, these indicators may assist the school building management, building facilities and other professionals to identify and implement suitable of classroom capacity especially for all classroom-based learning in the schools generally.

There have been several recent cases reported in Malaysian newspapers of complaints about the impact of construction works on the physical conditions of the surrounding buildings. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a study conducted on a complaint received by the Local Authority in Selangor, Malaysia, about the impact of adjacent new construction works on the conditions of existing buildings in the neighbouring vicinity.

The sample case study consists of 28 units of two‐storey terrace houses, and the instrument used was the inspection form for building inspections. A building survey was carried out for all the buildings in the case study. Two teams conducted the survey. Each team was led by a professional building surveyor and assisted by two assistant building surveyors. Apart from basic surveying tools, a digital calliper was also used to measure cracks. Crack‐width data were collected and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software.

The findings show that the adjacent new construction works have impacted the existing buildings nearby. A numbers of cracks of various magnitudes were identified in all the existing houses. One significant finding is that there appears to be no significant relationship between the cracks on the interior and the exterior, nor between the original and the renovated parts, of the existing buildings.

The significant number of cracks identified in the existing houses implies that the cracks were associated with the impacts from the new construction works. However, the primary cause of the building cracks was difficult to determine. It is therefore proposed that the Local Authority should establish guidelines at the local level for new construction works to prepare an inspection report on the condition of existing buildings in the surrounding area before the project commences. Building condition reports can then be used for reference in the event of claims received from the surrounding building owners alleging that the new construction works have adversely impacted the existing conditions of nearby buildings.