Investigating the Crucial Aspects of Developing a Healthy Dormitory based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—A Case Study of Shenzhen

In recent years, with the development of green building and the increase of health awareness, the concept of healthy building has been proposed. Recently, studies have been made on developing healthy residential buildings; however, few attentions have been paid to the development of healthy dormitories. To bridge this research gap, this paper aims to investigate the crucial aspects of developing a healthy dormitory. Based on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, three influencing aspects which include 17 measurement indicators are identified. Questionnaire surveys are subsequently conducted to collect students’ perceptions on the identified indicators. After a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, the relationships between the three influencing aspects are analyzed. The research findings show that building performance, bodily sensation, and humanistic environment must be taken into account in the development of a healthy dormitory. In addition, it is revealed that building performance has a significant impact on bodily sensation, while bodily sensation has a significant impact on humanistic environment. However, building performance is found having little impact on humanistic environment. The findings of this study could provide useful information for the construction of healthy dormitories.