This book is about building evaluation in the broadest sense and it transcends the meaning and conventional boundaries of the evolving field of "post-occupancy evalu ation" by focusing on evaluation throughout the building delivery process. This process is seen not just as being linear with a product in mind, i. e. , the completed and occupied building, but rather, it is seen as a cyclic evolution which has as its goal the continuous improvement of the quality of buildings. This goal can only be accomplished if evaluation occurs throughout the building delivery process, and if: 1. the evaluation that does occur is systematic and rigorous, 2. the data that is obtained can be fed into data bases and clearinghouses for use in future generations of buildings, and; 3. there is continuity in information flow. The idea for this book originated with a symposium that was part of a conference held at the Technical University in Delft, Netherlands, in July of 1988, i. e. , lAPS 10, the tenth biannual conference of the "International Association for the Study of People and their Physical Surroundings. " Authors presented papers based on their book chapters, and discussions ensued about the expanded boundaries of the field, about theoretical, methodological, and practical issues, as well as applications in building evaluation. Other relevant topics were identified and several additional authors were invited to participate in order to round out the contents of this book.
