چكيده لاتين :
Residents’ Satisfaction with the Villa as a Housing Type in Saudi Arabia ceived 01/09/1431H.; accepted for publication 13/05/1432H.)
Keywords: Saudi villa, Saudi housing, Privacy, Villa’s garden.
Abstract. The villa as a housing type in its modern form in Saudi Arabia has been widely built since the early
fifties of the last century. Doubts about its appropriateness to the Saudi society have been repeatedly pointed out in
the literature. The intent of this study is to evaluate the level of acceptance the villa enjoys within present Saudi
society, and to gauge this society’s degree of satisfaction with its design. It also addresses two issues in some
depth: the use of the villa’s garden and privacy concerns.
The study was based on a questionnaire administered in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and
answered by 250 participants. It was found that the villa is well accepted and highly preferred as a housing type by
the participants. It was also found that the participants were mostly satisfied with the design of the villa, although
they had some reservations among which were high running costs and lack of complete privacy. The main issue
that was evident throughout the study, however, was that it has become empirical to reexamine negative
propagated ideas about the villa. Such propagated ideas include the inadequacy of the villa for the Saudi society,
the view of the villa’s garden as a wasted space, and privacy as a constant concept.
