The authors suspected that the contemporary quantifi ed daylight
control on window design is insuffi cient to satisfy the user expectation in Hong
Kong. A survey was carried out from December 2007 to June 2008 to study the
human – window interactions in high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong. The
result indicated that daylighting is not the dominant factor for domestic window
design because of Hong Kong ’ s sociocultural context; other factors such as dining
habit, toilet hygiene, views from living room and privacy for bedroom proved
to be more important in the users ’ perception. This suggested that the current
statutory control may not fulfi ll or match user expectations. Thus, the window
design framework should be a qualitative approach with the understanding of
space function and user behavior in the sociocultural context in order to provide
for a better living environment.

• Users’ perceptions of domestic windows in Hong Kong: Challenging daylighting-based design regulations