111 Shehayeb, D., Turgut Yildiz, H. & Kellett, P. (Eds.) (2111). The Appropriate Home: Can We Design “Appropriate” Residential Environments? HBNRC: Cairo, Egypt. Proceedings of the First HBRC & IAPS-CSBE Network Joint Symposium (ISBN 977-17-4798-3). A Multi Dimensional Methodological Framework Towards Understanding the 'Appropriate' Home Environment Nagwa H. Sherif Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Eman A. El-Nachar Assistant Professor Department of Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University Dina K. Shehayeb Associate Professor of Architecture, Housing and Building National Research Center, Egypt Abstract The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the design of home environment, to be 'appropriate' must involve a multi-disciplinary approach able to integrate social, cultural and health related aspects of users, whereas conventional design methods no longer can fulfill those requirements. The paper is divided into two main parts, the first part presents the theoretical basis laying out the arguments against the conventional approach to design that relies on the conventional inquiry paradigm, proposing an alternative integrated ‘naturalistic’ perspective and argues for its adoption. The second part, presents an application of the multi- dimensional framework demonstrating its methodological implications through an investigation of those complementary aspects in three typical residential environments in Cairo. Keywords: Residential design, Naturalistic Research Methodology, Appropriate Home, Introduction Although the ultimate goal of an ‘appropriate’ home design is to satisfy the needs of those who use it, identifying and realizing those needs has not been always successful. Theorists and researchers have described the different facets and multi-dimensional nature of the processes involved in home environment, showing how complex the task of designing appropriate residential communities (Turgut & Cahantimur, 2003, Low & Altman, 1992, Dovey, 1985). This multi-dimensional nature requires that design of home environment must include factors describing all those aspects - cultural, social, psychological and health – that are related to users’ characteristics and affect the their quality of life. Conventional approaches to housing design, in Egypt, still in most cases rely heavily on designer's prediction and personal experience to assume user’s characteristics and hence the ‘appropriate’ dwelling. As a result, the design of home environment is addressed to a common user, and belonging to a pre-determined economic category - which ultimately governs the standard of building and proportions of spaces (such examples are observed all over Egypt ). These criteria tend to be prescriptive in nature, and guided designers’ solutions. This deterministic view was repugnant by many, because of its negative effects on the appropriateness of the designed built environment to specific users, and unfounded according to findings in many fields that argue strongly against it because of its implications on human free will (Heisenberg,1958; Wolf,1981; Jenks,1990;among others).