Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Research has shown that there is a strong connection between people’s health and the physical environment in which they work, live, or treated. Sick building syndrome is an illness caused by the building itself, leading individuals in the environment to suffer from inadequate physical and mental well-being, often resulting in symptoms such as nervousness, mucous membrane irritation, respiratory problems, and skin irritations. This situation can arise from various reasons such as cold air blast, very high or very low room temperature, heavy air, smoke and smell caused by people smoking, static electricity, poor condition of lighting in the room, unpleasant smell, dust, noise, etc. Such a situation can occur in any enclosed space where people spend a significant amount of time. Student dormitories exemplify such environments, as students inhabit them for several years. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate the symptoms and reasons for this sick building syndrome, specifically within student dormitories.
Methods: The current investigation is a cross-sectional, descriptive - analytical study carried out over a two-month period, specifically in November and December of 2019. It focused on 325 university students residing in the men’s and women’s dormitories of Shahrood University of Technology, with the exclusion of 3 special patients and 20 incomplete questionnaires from the research sample. For data collection, MM040EA standard questionnaires were administered to the university students in an online form and the required data was subsequently collected. Data was analyzed through binomial test and chi-square test.
Findings: According to the surveys, fatigue (64.24%), difficulty concentrating (58.28%), and headaches (53.48%) are the predominant symptoms of sick building syndrome. Additionally, significant contributing factors to this syndrome encompass noise, poor air quality, excessively high room temperatures, and dry air, with the study also highlighting the impact of neuro lighting on its prevalence. Among the various factors outlined in this article, severe weather conditions and exceptionally high room temperatures during the study period in the student dormitory stand out as the primary culprits for inadequate room ventilation. In this research, there is a significant relationship between the prevalence of building syndrome and all the factors related to the comfortable conditions of the dormitory and the physical environment and psychosocial conditions of the dormitory. 
Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that the prevalence of sick building syndrome, at 80%, surpasses both the figures reported in prior research and the author’s initial expectations. This discrepancy is viewed as unfavorable and assessed as concerning. Since these symptoms are related to the physical condition of the room where people stay, it is necessary to review the conditions of students’ presence in the dormitory, to reduce this problem by reducing people’s attendance and increasing the per capita accommodation space. When it is impossible to solve the students’ dissatisfaction completely and eliminate the issue of sick building syndrome, identifying the causes of the problem instead of focusing on the symptoms is essential. Undoubtedly, the interior design of any structure holds significant importance in the overall design process. Consequently, designers and architects should enhance their consideration of interior environment design and increase their awareness of its impact on occupant health, particularly in spaces like student dormitories where occupants spend a substantial amount of time. In a broader effort to reduce the prevalence of sick building syndrome in student dormitories, it should be recognized that the improvement of dormitory facilities and the renovation of older structures will prove highly beneficial in addressing this issue.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Introduction: Behavioral setting, as a result of ecological psychology knowledge, investigates the behavior and experiences of people in their daily lives and the real environment. From this perspective, the study of human behavior depends on the study of the environment in which the behavior is formed. Therefore, the designer, in addition to identifying repetitive behavioral patterns and the environment in which the behavior is formed, needs to recognize the relationship between these two factors.
Statement of the problem: Dormitories as a kind of residential places accommodating a variety of users and embracing lifestyle diversity, induce a variety of activities due to synchronicity with other activities. Therefore, the disruption of permanent behavioral patterns in the built environment are studied in this paper. In fact, lack of comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the needs, habits and behaviors of students in dormitory spaces has led to such conflicts between the space and the users. Since in the last few decades the number of students have increased in our country, the problems of their accommodation and providing sufficient space per capita in dormitories have arisen, and behavioral and physical conflicts have become obvious. Thus, today, it is essential to study the behavioral patterns from a psychological point of view carefully and methodically to build a compatible environment with the users’ needs. On the other hand, research shows that female students are under more emotional pressure caused by being away from family members and the inability of the individual to adapt to the difficult conditions of the dormitory. So, we found it necessary to focus on designing dormitories for girls. The aim of this research is to find architectural designing guidelines for student dormitories in accordance with Iranian female students' spatial behavior based on “behavioral settings.”
What are the different types of behavioral settings in the studied girls’ dormitory?
 How is the current identified function of the behavioral settings in the studied case evaluated from the students’ point of view?
What are the appropriate space characteristics related to the behavioral patterns for students in dormitories?
Methodology: Given the cultural diversity among the residents of a room in the dormitory, as well as age differences, educational level and different personality traits and consequently their multiple needs, it was considered necessary to assess repetitive users’ behavioral patterns and physical aspects of their living space using their own opinion. This study uses non-intervening methods including being present in the environment, as well as field observation method. A group of two hundred students of four female dormitory complexes of Shiraz University at different levels (undergraduate, Master and PhD) were observed. An open questionnaire and content analysis of qualitative data were applied to determine the weight of the effective components in the design including current behavioral patterns, physical characteristics, and disruptive factors of the current synomorphic pattern of behavior-milieu during identifying behavioral settings.
Findings: At the end of this study, qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis method. After determining the frequency of effective components in the design, which include repetitive behaviors of students in their living environment and the physical dimensions of the dormitory space, the degree of synomorphic relationship was evaluated and finally design guidelines were presented in three broad categories: private space of individual activities, semi-private space of individual activities, and public and semi-public spaces of collective activities. This research is based on theoretical and practical background of the case study, and attempts to show design techniques tailored to each guideline and provides a suitable platform for identifying behavioral patterns in the dormitory. Through structural testing and considering the degree of interdependence between the synomorphies of a behavioral setting, the five major behavioral settings including “residential suites”, “self-governing stores”, “learning communities”, “social interactions” and “sports and health” are detectable in the design of dormitories and each is affected by the larger context to which they belong.
Conclusion: Residential suites with high number of synomorphies have been recognized as one of the most important behavioral settings in this study. Students living space is a place where they spend most of their time and where they perform many activities. The spatial boundary of their living space includes a wide range of place-behaviors, each of which can be defined structurally as a separate behavioral setting; because they have more detailed synomorphies within themselves. Therefore, they have a more complex combination of behavior-milieu synomorphies. As a result, residential suites are more important than other behavioral sites in this study. They have to be carefully designed to realize multiple behavioral patterns of residents that occur simultaneously in the form of individuals’ different cultures and habits. In addition, the function of residential suites has a significant impact on the function of other behavioral settings. In fact, if the accommodation suites play a key role in meeting the primary and basic needs of students including the need for sleep and rest, health and personal hygiene, study, etc., the desire to do voluntary and social activities to meet the transcendent needs of other students will increase and the performance of other settings will be improved.

Abstract