Evaluation of the Spatial Quality of Apartments from Different Price Categories Using the Visibility Graph Analysis: A Case of Tirana, Albania

Abstract

During the last decade, there has been massive growth in the construction of large residential complexes and apartment blocks in Tirana. Urban density is increasing due to the fact that traditional low-story villas are demolished, and the space of the former private gardens is used for the new construction with high built ratio. The public areas which are adequate for such dense cities are not provided and therefore residents have a tendency to spend more time indoors. This research aims to evaluate the spatial qualities of the newly constructed 3+1 apartments using the Space Syntax visibility graph analysis (VGA). VGA allows to compare the overall exposure of the room, to estimate its level of privacy and control and to check if it is suitable for the assigned function. Analysis is performed for the apartments of different price levels in order to find the influence of price to the design quality and residential comfort. The results show that the degree of separation of the public and private domains corresponds to an increase in the price of the apartment. The visual exposure of the hall is higher in comparison with the living room, which facilitates the movement towards the individual rooms without interaction with the other family members.