THE ROLE OF THE INTERIOR DESIGN TO PLAN A HAPPY HOME WITH A LOW BUDGET – SHEIKH ZAYED HOUSING PROGRAMME (AJMAN)

Introduction:
Governments in advanced countries seek to provide services to their citizens and contribute to raising their standard of living. The countries’ level of progress is measured by the happiness level of their people. The United Arab Emirates Government, through appointing a minister of happiness, endeavors to provide assistance and services to all its citizens, and one of its objectives is to help its citizens to obtain appropriate housing.
The Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme aims to serve the citizens by providing best possible accommodation for Emirati families so that they achieve stability in society.
Ajman University’s Interior Design Department, as part of its role in community development services, will provide consultancies for the project mentioned above, through the research sponsorship of the University and a joint memorandum of understanding between its Interior Design Department and the Zayed Housing Programme to design Happy Residences with a low budget.

Research problem:
Governments seek to provide the right housing for as many of their citizens as possible and provide all support for the construction of those housing units. To achieve this objective and particularly, the Zayed Housing complexes, which comprise the largest number of residential units meant to accommodate the largest number of its citizens; it was deemed necessary to unify the architectural designs.
The problem of research, in this case, is the role of interior design to break the repetition of unified residential units, to design and provide innovative solutions to meet the private and personal desires of each dweller of those units. The design aims to make the users happy and to enjoy privacy, taking into consideration aesthetical values, functionalities, and low cost.

Research goal:
The purpose of the current research is to provide assistance, design, and consultancy for the Zayed Housing Programme users. It aims at finding ways of furnishing, arranging and designing their homes to fulfill their desires along with breaking the repetition of architectural designs of the residential units. It also intends to help them in the selection of the appropriate furniture that is in sync with the interior spaces and also help them in the selection of color schemes that enhance their positive emotions.
The research also aims at the participation of the faculty members and the students of the Interior Design Department, to motivate them to serve the community and to maximize the role of the University. This contribution aims to find solutions to community’ needs, as well as to create an interactive academic atmosphere among faculty members and fresh graduates of interior design that will contribute to this experience.

Research Methodology:
The research approach is based on field and applied studies, information gathered about the needs of Zayed Housing Programme users, the analysis of the internal surfaces of the residential units and the application of the appropriate standards and environmental conditions. The methodology of this research depends on the selection of three beneficiaries, as a research sample, and involves periodical meetings with them to reach the appropriate design solutions. The results and recommendations of the selected sample will promote their application to a larger segment of beneficiaries, to reach a happy and low-cost housing solution that can commensurate with all users.