Beyond Technical Specs: Using AHP to Prioritize User Needs in Turkish Basketball Arena Designs

Abdurrahman Yagmur Toprakli; Sena Işıklar Bengi

doi:10.11113/ijbes.v11.n3.1346

Authors

Abdurrahman Yagmur Toprakli Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; Innoarc Arge Ltd. Şti. Gazi Teknopark/ Ankara/ Turkey
Sena Işıklar Bengi Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology University, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Adana, Turkey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/ijbes.v11.n3.1346

Keywords:

Basketball Arenas, Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), User Satisfaction, Design Evaluation

Abstract

Basketball arenas are crucial spaces that must meet specific standards to ensure the sustainability of the sport and the quality of play. While Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) assesses these standards, it often assumes that all performance indicators are equally important, potentially leading to a gap between design intent and actual user experience. This study aims to bridge this gap by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize evaluation criteria for Turkish professional basketball arenas designed for national and international matches, regional/local competitions, and training programs. Existing studies and reports indicate that basketball arenas in Turkey often fall short in meeting necessary physical requirements and exhibit performance deficiencies. To address this gap, this study identifies factors determining arena performance, categorized as technical, functional, and behavioral based on Preiser's framework. These criteria were further categorized according to different spaces within the arena, including general use areas, administrative spaces, and athlete-specific areas. A panel of expert sports facility design professionals provided judgments about the relative importance of these criteria using pairwise comparisons. The AHP method was then employed to calculate priority weights for each criterion. The results reveal the relative importance of different criteria for each space. For example, in general use areas, "furniture suitability/sufficiency" and "provision of ergonomic conditions for the disabled" ranked highest. In administrative spaces, "fire protection" and "accessibility" were deemed most important, while in athlete-specific areas, "visual and auditory privacy" and "security" took precedence. This study demonstrates the potential of AHP for developing a systematic and reliable framework for qualitative evaluations that measure user satisfaction. AHP-based evaluation models offer a valuable tool for architects, facility managers, and decision-makers to assess architectural design quality, prioritize design criteria, and support user-centered design processes.

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Url-3: https://www.fanatik.com.tr/dikkat-kaygan-zemin- 607900

Url-4: https://www.kibrishaberci.com/yapamiyorsaniz-birakin/