The Impact of "Spatial Organization Types" of Apartment Residential Units on "Privacy and Social Interaction" Case Study of Conventional Residential Apartments in Amol

Balance of privacy and social interaction is the psychological need of the residents of the apartment units. The lack of such a balance leads to social isolation on the one hand and to the confusion of residents on the other. The types of spatial organization of housing and the factors that shape and influence it have always been discussed by architectural experts and urban planners. The aim of the research is to bring the opinions of experts closer to the views of the people in order to improve the quality of housing. This goal is pursued through the search for a balance between privacy and social interaction in the spatial organization of apartment units. These studies have not shown clear and practical results in relating privacy and social interaction to elements of space organization. The novelty of this research is in studying the balance between privacy and social interaction and paying attention to its impact on the spatial organization of the apartment-residential unit and its elements. The main question is what is the relationship between privacy and social interaction of the types of apartment space organization? What is the significance of such a relationship? And how can this relationship be balanced? A case study is limited to conventional apartment units in Amol city. Conventional apartments are three- to six-story buildings of medium height that have a common staircase and other common areas. The research method is a combination of quantitative and qualitative and was done by completing a questionnaire in a sample of residential apartments in Amol. For this purpose, using the archive of Amol Central Municipality, the residential units were first sorted by area and then the building in terms of space organization. Resibential units, based on existing documents from 2001 to 2018, were classified into twenty types and then into four dominant types. Sample residential units with more than one year of operation were selected. First, 25 questionnaires were distributed among the specialists and based on the values ​​obtained above acceptable, second 30 questionnaires were pre-tested. Cronbach's alpha test was performed to confirm the reliability with SPSS software. The closed-ended and open-ended questions were distributed among the residents in the form of 405 questionnaires. After removing incomplete answers, 384 questionnaires were used for final analysis. Prioritization and ranking were performed by Friedman test. The results showed that the residents of apartment units prefer collective interaction to solitude leading to isolation. Respecting the design arrangements to ensure privacy in the facade, transmitting sound between indoor and outdoor spaces and providing the desired collective interaction is the desire of residents. As a result, the balance between solitude and collective interaction is relative, depending on the spatial organization of the residential units, and changes over time as individuals tend to choose their lifestyle. This tendency can be influenced by life background and adaptation to the spatial organization of new homes .