Adaptation of quality function deployment (QFD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods to building facade design processes

Abstract

The design of building facades involves striking a balance between indoor comfort and efficient facade construction techniques. This study aims to develop a framework for designing efficient building facades by considering occupant requirements and adapting the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods. AHP is a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making method that simplifies complex problems by breaking them down into smaller components. Each component is then weighted to determine its priority using the AHP methodology. The QFD method is used in industry to improve the quality of products and is based on considering user requirements throughout the product design process and transferring them from the design stage to the production stage by using House of Quality matrices. In this study, AHP method is used to identify the priority of targets in the design of efficient and appropriate facades. Additionally, the QFD method is adapted as a way to improve the quality of building facade design by occupant requirements. For the design of efficient building facades, this study developed a facade design framework with four phases, namely the design targets phase, the occupant requirements phase, the design techniques phase and the facade design phase. These phases consisted of different steps based on analyzing case studies, conducting two questionnaire surveys, using four AHP matrices and developing House of Quality matrices. This study demonstrated the applicability of QFD and AHP methods in the facade design process by defining the framework for designing appropriate and efficient building facades.