Peer Reviewed Journal via three different mandatory reviewing processes, since 2006, and, from September 2020, a fourth mandatory peer-editing has been added.
Creative projects in various fields are often subjected to afterthe-
fact ‘post-mortem’ assessments to better understand their
successes and failures. Names for these include project
retrospectives or post occupancy evaluations (POEs) depending
on their field of origin. This case study from the architecture
field will show the utility of engaging in multiple rounds of
post-mortem activities in order to assess the solution from
multiple stakeholder perspectives and in doing so, more fully
recognize its strengths and weaknesses.
The design of a homeless shelter bedroom was subjected to two
POE analyses: a ‘demand side’ focused study that analyzed user
accommodation, and a ‘supply side’ study that addressed issues
including budget and funding. The two POEs yielded both
corroborative and contrasting findings that sometimes worked at
cross purposes. Three evaluation tactics emerged that could be
extended to other fields’ post mortem assessment activities: 1)
conduct two or more POEs; 2) vary the POE criteria so that one
is deep and focused ‘demand side’ user analysis and the other is
‘supply side’ operational and installation issues; and 3) conduct
the POEs over a broad time period.
