Semicustomized design framework of container accommodation for migrant construction workers

Millions of migrant construction workers (MCWs) worldwide make significant economic contributions to their host countries or regions but often suffer poor housing conditions. It is therefore important to explore new ways to improve housing conditions for MCWs. Based on the concept of sustainable design, the authors propose a semicustomized design framework of container accommodation through improvements to the job process of a classical value engineering process in three aspects. First, a method of design scheme innovation based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs is developed; second, two types of decision makers are integrated in different stages of the design process to satisfy the diversified housing needs of MCWs from social and psychological perspectives; and third, to better measure the housing satisfaction of MCWs, the authors developed an evaluation method of quantifying worker housing satisfaction with different design schemes using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, including an evaluation indicator system with MCW psychological factors. This framework can be used to determine the supply of container accommodation and prices that best fit the needs of MCWs by optimizing the function and cost of design schemes. To demonstrate the feasibility of the framework, a case study is conducted. In addition, the limitations of the framework are discussed.